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LETTERS 

FROM A FARMER IN 

PENNSYLVANIA. 




The Patriotic American Farmer. 
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LETTERS 

FROM 

A FARMER in Pennfyhania, 
TO THE INHABITANTS OF 
THE BRITISH COLONIES 

BY 

JOHN DICKINSON 

WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 
BY 

R. T. H. HALSEY 




NEW YORK 

THE OUTLOOK COMPANY 

I903 



3] 54-^ 



THE Ll6RAl:V OF 

CONGRESS. 
Two Copiei Receive 

AUG 26 1903 

»- XXc. No 

o e> O "> / 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1905 
By R. T. H. Halsey 



■ 

* , * 

- * * t t » ( 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF ONE WHO LOVED HER COUNTRY 

AND ALL THAT PERTAINED 

TO ITS HISTORY 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Introduction xvii 

Notes xlix 

Letter I 5 

Letter II 13 

Letter III 27 

Letter IV 37 

Letter V 47 

Letter VI 59 

Letter VII 67 

Letter VIII 79 

Letter IX 87 



xii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Letter X 101 

Letter XI 117 

Letter XII 133 

Letter of Thanks from the Town 

of Boston 147 



I LLUSTRATIONS. 

The Patriotic American Farmer 
J-n D-k-ns-n, Esq r , Barrister-at- 
Law Frontispiece 

Photogravure on copper. 

Initial Letter from the Penn- 
sylvania Chronicle of 1768 . . Title 

Line etching on copper. 

Chelsea Derby Porcelain Statu- 
ette of Catherine Macaulay xliii 

Bierstadt process color print. 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION. 

IN the issue of the Pennsylvania 
Chronicle and Universal Adver- 
tiser of November 30th— December 3d, 
1767, appeared the first of twelve successive 
weekly " Letters from a Farmer in Penn- 
sylvania to the Inhabitants of the British 
Colonies" in which the attitude assumed 
by the British Parliament towards the 
American Colonies was exhaustively dis- 
cussed. So extensive was their popularity 
that they were immediately reprinted in 
almost all our Colonial newspapers. 

The outbursts of joy throughout America 
occasioned by the repeal of the Stamp Act 
had scarcely subsided when, the protracted 
illness of Lord Chatham having left the 
Ministry without a head, the indomitable 
Charles Townsend, to the amazement of his 
colleagues and unfeigned delight of his 
King, introduced measure after measure 
under the pretence that they were de- 
manded by the necessities of the Ex- 
chequer ; but in reality for the purpose of 
demonstrating the supremacy of the power 
of the Parliament of Great Britain over her 
colonies in America. Among these Acts 
were those which provided for the billeting 
of troops in the various colonies ; others 



xviii INTRODUCTION. 

called for duties upon glass, lead, paint, oil, 
tea, etc. Of dire portent was the provision 
therein, that the revenues thus obtained be 
used for the maintenance of a Civil List 
in America, and for the payment of the 
salaries of the Royal Governors and Justices, 
salaries which had hitherto been voted by 
the various Assemblies. The Assembly of 
New York, having failed to comply strictly 
with the letter of the law in regard to the 
billeting of the King's troops, was punished 
by having its legislative powers suspended. 
This action boded ill for the future of any 
law-making body in America which should 
fail to carry out strictly any measure upon 
which the British Parliament might agree. 
The Colonies needed a common ground on 
which to meet in their opposition to these 
arbitrary Acts of Parliament. The deeds of 
violence and the tumultuous and passionate 
harangues in the northern colonies met 
with little sympathy among a large class in 
the middle and southern colonies, who, 
while chafing under the attacks upon their 
liberties, hesitated to favor resistance to the 
home government because of their unswerv- 
ing loyalty to their King and their love for 
the country to whom and to which they 
owed allegiance. To these " The Farmer " 
appealed when he wrote, "The cause of 
liberty is a cause of too much dignity to be 
slighted by turbulence and tumult. It 
ought to be maintained in a manner suitable 



INTRODUCTION. xix 

to her nature, those who engage in it should 
breathe a sedate yet fervent spirit animat- 
ing them to actions of prudence, justice, 
modesty, bravery, humanity and magnani- 
mity." The convincing logic of these let- 
ters clearly proved that the constitutional 
rights belonging to Englishmen were being 
trampled upon in the colonies, and fur- 
nished a platform upon which all those who 
feared their liberties were endangered could 
unite. 

Under the date of the fifth of November, 
1767, the seventy-ninth anniversary of the 
day on which the landing of William the 
Third at Torbay gave constitutional lib- 
erty to all Englishmen, John Dickinson, of 
Pennsylvania (for before long it became 
known that he was the illustrious author), 
in a letter addressed to his " beloved country- 
men," called attention to the lack of interest 
shown by the Colonies in the act suspend- 
ing the legislative powers of New York, and 
logically pointed out that the precedent 
thereby established was a blow at the lib- 
erty of all the other Colonies, laying partic- 
ular emphasis upon the danger of mutual 
inattention by the Colonies to the interests 
of one another. 

The education and training of the author 
well qualified him to handle his subject. 
Born in 1732 on his ancestral plantation on 
the eastern shore of Maryland, from early 
youth John Dickinson had had the advanta- 



xx INTRODUCTION. 

ges of a classical education.* His nineteenth 
year found him reading law in a lawyer's 
office in Philadelphia. Three years later, 
he sailed for England, where he devoted 
four important years to study at the Middle 
Temple, and then and there obtained that 
knowledge of English common law and 
constitutional history, and imbibed the tra- 
ditions of liberty belonging to Englishmen 
on which he later founded his plea for the 
resistance of the Colonies to the ministerial 
attacks upon their liberty. On his return 
home he took up the practice of his profes- 
sion at Philadelphia, and immediately won 
for himself a high place at the Bar. Elected 
in 1760 a member of the Assembly of Del- 
aware, his reputation for ability and politi- 
cal discernment gained him its speakership. 
In 1762 he became a member of the As- 
sembly of Pennsylvania, where he acquired 
great prominence and unpopularity, which 
later cost him his seat in that body, on ac- 
count of his opposition to the Assembly's 
sending a petition to the King praying that 
the latter " would resume the government of 
the province, making such compensation to 
the proprietaries as would be equitable, and 
permitting the inhabitants to enjoy under 
the new government the privileges that have 
been granted to them by and under your 
Royal ministries." 

* " The Life and Times of John Dickinson," by 
Charles J. Stille. 



INTRODUCTION. xxi 

Possibly Dickinson's knowledge of the 
personality of the Ministry and the domi- 
nant spirits in English political circles 
gained while abroad, led him bitterly to 
attack this measure, fathered and supported 
by Franklin, for subsequent events soon 
showed the far-sightedness which led him 
to distrust the wisdom of a demand for the 
revoking of the Proprietary Charter, even 
though it were a bad one. His part in the 
controversy forced even his bitterest oppo-» 
nents to admire his ability. The enormous 
debt incurred by Great Britain during the 
then recent war with France led" the Minis- 
try to look for some way of lightening tax- 
ation at home. It was decided that Amer- 
ica must pay a share toward lifting the 
burden resting heavily on those in England, 
caused by the financing of the expenses of 
a war which drove France from North 
America. The fact that the colonies had 
furnished, equipped and maintained in the 
field twenty-five thousand troops and had 
incurred debts far heavier in proportion 
than those at home was forgotten. In 1764 
was passed the " Sugar Act," which ex- 
tended and enlarged the Navigation Acts 
and made England the channel through 
which not only all European, but also all 
Asiatic trade to and from the colonies must 
flow. At the same time an announcement 
was made that "Stamp Duties" would be 
added later on. The next year from Dick- 



xxii INTRODUCTION. 

inson's pen appeared a pamphlet entitled 
"The LATE REGULATIONS Respect- 
ing the BRITISH COLONIES on the 
Continent of AMERICA Considered, 
in a Letter from a Gentleman in Philadel- 
phia to his Friend in London," in which 
these late regulations and proposed measures 
were discussed entirely from an economic 
standpoint. In it was clearly shown how de- 
pendent were the manufacturers and traders 
in England for their prosperity upon the 
trade of the colonies and that any restraint 
of American trade would naturally curtail 
the ability of those in the colonies to pur- 
chase from the home market. The Stamp 
Act was opposed on the ground that the 
already impoverished colonies would be 
drained of all their gold and silver which 
necessarily would have to go abroad in the 
payment for the stamps. This letter was 
conciliatory and persuasive, yet in the clos- 
ing pages Dickinson asked : 

"What then can we do? Which way 
shall we turn ourselves? How may we 
mitigate the miseries of our country ? Great 
Britain gives us an example to guide us ? 
She Teaches us to Make a Distinction 
Between Her Interests and Our Own. 

" Teaches ! She requires — commands — 
insists upon it — threatens — compels — and 
even distresses us into it. 

" We have our choice of these two 
things — to continue our present limited and 



INTRODUCTION. xxiii 

disadvantageous commerce — or to promote 
manufactures among ourselves, with a habit 
of economy, and thereby remove the neces- 
sity we are now under of being supplied by 
Great Britain. 

" It is not difficult to determine which 
of these things is most eligible. Could the 
last of them be only so far executed as to 
bring our demand for British manufactures 
below the profits of our foreign trade, and 
the amount of our commodities immedi- 
ately remitted home, these colonies might 
revive and flourish. States and families are 
enriched by the same means ; that is, by 
being so industrious and frugal as to spend 
less than what they raise can pay for." 

The various Non-Importation Agree- 
ments signed during the next ten years, bear 
testimony to the popularity of the proposed 
plan. 

This pamphlet circulated freely and in- 
creased Dickinson's reputation as that of a 
man capable of thoroughly discussing public 
measures ; it also brought his name to the 
attention of the British public for whom the 
" Letter " was especially written. 

At the call of Massachusetts, representa- 
tives of nine of the colonies met in New 
York in October, 1764, and after a long 
discussion (in which Dickinson's knowledge 
of constitutional law and English colonial 
policy enabled him to assume the leader- 
ship) issued a " Declaration of Rights," in 



xxiv INTRODUCTION. 

which it was asserted that the inhabitants of 
the Colonies, standing on their rights as 
Englishmen, could not be taxed by the 
House of Commons while unrepresented in 
that body. Memorials were sent abroad 
protesting against the proposed acts, ex- 
pressing, however, their willingness to meet 
loyally as in the past any properly accredited 
requisitions for funds sent to the various 
Assemblies. Notwithstanding this opposi- 
tion, and the protests of all friends of Amer- 
ica in England, the Stamp Act was passed. 
A year later it was repealed. 

Written in a plain, pure style, with il- 
lustrations and arguments drawn from eccle- 
siastical, classical and English history, each 
point proven with telling accuracy and con- 
vincing logic, conciliatory to the English 
people, and tilled with expressions of loyalty 
to the King, these essays, popularly known 
as the " Farmer's Letters," furnished the 
basis on which all those who resented the 
attacks on their liberty were able to unite. 
Town meetings * and Assemblies vied with 
each other in their resolutions of thanks. 
The" Letters" were published immediately 
in book form in Philadelphia (three different 
editions), New York, Boston (two different 
editions), Williamsburgh, London (with a 
preface written by Franklin), and Dublin. 

* The " Address from the Town of Providence," 
printed from the original manuscript, is to be found in 
the Notes, page li. 



JUST PUBLISHED. 

Printed on a large Type, and fine Paper, 

And to be sold at the LONDON BOOK STORE 

North Side of King-street 

l e r r e r s 



FROM 

A FARMER in PENNSYLVANIA 

To the INHABITANTS of the 
BRITISH COLONIES. 

{Price two Pistareens) 

Among all the WRITERS in favor of the COLONIES, 
the FARMER shines unrivalled, for strength of Argument, 
Elegance of Diction, Knowledge in the Laivs of Great Bri- 
tain, and the true interest of the COLONIES: A pathetic 
and persuasive eloquence runs thro the whole of these 
Letters : They have been printed in every Colony from Flo- 
rida to Nova Scotia ; and the universal applause so justly 
bestowed on the AUTHOR, hath fully testified the GRA- 
TITUDE of the PEOPLE OF AMERICA, for such an 
able Adviser and affectionate Friend. 



xxvi INTRODUCTION. 

Franklin was influential, also, in having 
them translated into French, and published 
on the Continent. Owing to the beauty of 
its typography and the excellence of its 
book-making, the Boston edition, published 
by Messrs. Mein & Fleeming, has been se- 
lected for republication, and has been re- 
printed line for line and page for page, in 
a type varying but slightly from that used 
by Mein & Fleeming. A few typographi- 
cal errors have been corrected, but the ir- 
regularities in spelling, wherever they exist 
throughout the various editions, have been 
retained. The binding also is a reproduc- 
tion of that of the original. Its publication * 
was announced in the "Boston Chronicle," 
March 14-21, 1768, by the advertisement 
reprinted on the preceding page. 

Valuable as these " Letters " were at 
home in uniting all factions in their meas- 
ures of resistance, yet their influence abroad 
was of even more far-reaching effect. Re- 
printed in London in June, 1768, this two- 
shilling pamphlet quickly circulated through 
coffee-house and drawing-room. In minis- 
terial circles the " Farmer " caused great 
indignation. In a letter from Franklin, 
addressed to his son, dated London, 1 3th of 
March, 1768, appears the following: "My 
Lord Hillsborough mentioned the ' Farm- 
er's Letters ' to me, said that he had read 

* Two weeks later a letter of thanks voted by the 
town of Boston was added to this edition. 



INTRODUCTION. xxvii 

them, that they were well written, and he 
believed he could guess who was the author, 
looking in my face at the same time, as if 
he thought it was me. He censured the 
doctrines as extremely wild. I have read 
them as far as Number 8. I know not if 
any more have been published. I should, 
however, think they had been written by 
Mr. Delancey, not having heard any men- 
tion of the others you point out as joint 
authors." 

Groaning under their own heavy taxa- 
tion, the troubles of America had hitherto 
appealed but slightly to the average English- 
man and the sympathies of the English 
people had become involved in the long- 
drawn-out struggles of Wilkes to obtain his 
constitutional rights. The press published 
little American news. America was little 
discussed ; conditions there were practically 
unknown to all but the trading class, whose 
members had prospered through the mon- 
opoly of the constantly increasing commerce 
with the growing colonies. This class, 
naturally fearing the loss of the magnificent 
trade which had been built up, had long 
bemoaned the constantly increasing friction 
between the two factions on each side of 
the water. Englishmen in general had 
hitherto paid little attention to the debates 
over the various acts raising revenue from 
the colonies. From the time the " Farm- 
er's Letters " were published in England 



xxviii INTRODUCTION. 

the differences between Parliament and 
colonies were better understood there. 
Untouched and yet alarmed by the political 
corruption so prevalent at the time, thinking 
men saw in these " Letters " a warning that 
if their Sovereign was successful in his 
attempt to take away constitutional liberty 
from their fellow Englishmen across the 
sea, their own prized liberty at home was 
in danger. "American" news became 
more frequent in the newspapers, " Letters 
to the Printer," the form of editorials of 
the day, discussed and criticised the meas- 
ures of Parliament with great freedom. 
To the masses, John Dickinson's name soon 
became very familiar through the agency 
of the press, which under date ol June 26— 
28, 1768, freely noted Isaac Barre's char- 
acterization in the House of Commons of 
Dickinson as " a man who was not only an 
ornament to his country but an honor to 
human nature." Almost immediately after 
the publication of the London edition, the 
Monthly Review of July, 1768, forcibly 
called the attention of the literary world to 
the " Farmer's Letters " in an exhaustive 
review which is reprinted in the Notes, page 
liii, for the purpose of showing the view held 
by the English Whigs regarding the doc- 
trines laid down and arguments used by 
Dickinson in defence of his position. 

The " London Chronicle," under date of 
September 1st, 1768, printed the popular 



INTRODUCTION. xxix 

Liberty song, written by Mr. Dickinson, 
and which, set to the inspiring air of 
" Hearts of Oak," was being sung through- 
out the colonies. In order to give the 
accompanying letter of request for the re- 
publication of the song, a request which, 
from its wording demonstrates the enthusi- 
asm which the song aroused, the latter is 
here reprinted from the issue of the Boston 
"Evening Post" of August 22, 1768. 

MESSIRS FLEETS 

The following Song being now much in Vogue 
and of late is heard resounding in almost all 
Companies in Town, and by way of eminence 
called " The Liberty Song," you are desired to re- 
publish in your 'circulating' Paper for the Bene- 
fit of the whole Continent of America. 

[To the Tune of Hearts of Oak.] 

Come, join Hand in Hand, brave Americans all, 
And rouse your bold Hearts at fair Liberty's Call, 
No tyrannous Acts shall suppress your just Claim, 
Or stain with dishonor America's Name. 

In Freedom we're born, & in Freedom we'll live, 

Our Purses are ready, 

Steady, Friends, Steady, 
Not as Slaves but as Freemen our money we'll 
give. 

Our worthy Forefathers — let's give them a Cheer — 
To Climates unknown did courageously steer; 
Thro' Oceans to Deserts for Freedom they came, 
And dying bequeath 'd us their Freedom & Fame. 

In Freedom we're born, &c. 



xxx INTRODUCTION. 

Their generous Bosoms all Dangers despis'd, 
So highly, so wisely, their Birthrights they priz'd ; 
We'll keep what they gave — we will piously keep, 
Nor frustrate their Toils on the Land or the Deep. 

In Freedom we're born, cVc. 

The Tree their own Hands had to Liberty rear'd, 
They liv'd to behold growing strong and rever'd; 
With Transport then cry'd, ' now our Wishes we 

gain, 
For our Children shall gather the Fruits of our 

Pain.' 

In Freedom we're born, &c. 

Swarms of Placemen and Pensioners soon will ap- 
pear, 
Like Locusts deforming the Charms of the Year; 
Suns vainly will rise, Showers vainly descend, 
If we are to drudge for what others shall spend. 

In Freedom we're born, &c. 

Then join Hand in Hand brave Americans all, 
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall ; 
In so righteous a Cause let us hope to succeed, 
For Heaven approves of each generous Deed. 

In Freedom we're born, &c. 

All Ages shall speak with amaze and applause, 
Of the courage we'll shew in support of our laws; 
To die we can bear — but to serve we disdain — 
For Shame is to Freemen more dreadful than 
Pain. 

In freedom we're born, &c. 

This Bumper I crown for our Sovereign s Health, 
And this for Britannia's Glory and Wealth ; 
That Wealth and that Glory immortal may be, 
If She is but just — and if we are but free. 



INTRODUCTION. xxxi 

In Freedom we're born, & in Freedom we'll live, 

Our Purses are ready, 

Steady, Friends, Steady, 
Not as Slaves, but as Freemen our Money we'll 
give. 

The following extract from the London 
" Chronicle " of October 4, 1768, demon- 
strates how completely the arguments and 
logic of the "Farmer's Letters" gained popu- 
lar approval ; how constantly Dickinson's 
name was kept before the public, both at 
home and abroad ; how his fame was toasted; 
how he was recognized as the leader of 
political thought in the colonies. It shows 
also the constantly increasing interest in 
American matters taken by the press of 
England since the advent of the " Farmer's 
Letters," for the " American News," pub- 
lished in this and other London papers, 
was extensively reprinted in the local jour- 
nals throughout the kingdom. 

Taken from the Boston, in New England, Evening 
Post of August 22, iy68 

On Monday the fifteenth instant, the anniver- 
sary of the ever memorable Fourteenth of August, 
was celebrated by the Sons of Liberty in this 
Town, with extraordinary festivity. At this Dawn, 
the British Flag was displayed on the "Tree of Lib- 
erty, and a Discharge of Fourteen Cannon, ranged 
under the venerable Elm, saluted the joyous Day. 
At eleven o'clock, a very large Company of the 
principal Gentlemen and respectable Inhabitants 
of the Town, met at the Hall under the Tree, 



xxxii INTRODUCTION. 

while the Streets were crowded with a Concourse 
of People of all Ranks, public Notice having been 
given of the intended Celebration. The Musick 
began at high Noon, performed on various Instru- 
ments, joined with Voices ; and concluding with 
the universally admired American Song or Lib- 
erty, * the Grandeur of its Sentiment, and the easy 
Flow of its Numbers, together with an exquisite 
Harmony of Sound, afforded sublime Entertain- 
ment to a numerous Audience, fraught with a 
noble Ardour in the cause of Freedom : The Song 
was clos'd with the Discharge of Cannon and a 
Shout of Joy ; at the same time the Windows of 
the Neighbouring Houses, were adorned with a 
brilliant appearance of the fair Daughters of Lib- 
erty, who testified their Approbation by Smiles of 
Satisfaction. The following Toasts succeeded, 
viz. 

/. Our rightful Sovereign George the "Third. 

2. The Queen, Prince of Wales, and the rest of 
the Royal Family. 

j. The Sons of Liberty throughout the World. 

./. The glorious Administration of ij66. 

5. A perpetual Union of Great Britain and her 

Colonies, upon the immutable Principles of 
Justice and Equity. 

6. May the sinister Designs of Oppressors, both 

in Great Britain and America, be for ever 
defeated. 

7. May the common Rights of Mankind be estab- 

lished on the Ruin of all their Enemies. 



*The Song has been given already in our Chronicle. 



The following toasts may need brief explanation. — R. T. H. H. 
4. The Rockingham Ministry which repealed the Stamp Act. 



INTRODUCTION. xxxiii 

8. Paschal Paoli and his brave Corsicans. May 
they never want the Support of the Friends of 
Liberty. 

p. The memorable ijth of August, 1765. 

10. Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights. 

11. A speedy Repeal of unconstitutional Acts of 

Parliament, and a final Removal of illegal and 
oppressive Officers. 

12. The Farmer. 

1 j. John Wilkes, Esq.; and all independent Mem- 
bers of the British Parliament. 

14. The glorious Ninety-Two who defended the 
Rights of America, uninfluenced by the Man- 
dates of a Minister, and undaunted by the 
threats of a Governor. 

Which being finished, the French horns 
sounded ; and after another discharge of the can- 
non, compleating the number Ninety-Two, the 

8. The struggles of Paoli and the Corsicans excited great interest 
both in Great Britain and America. Constant references are made 
to these in the "Letters." 

9. The day of the demonstration in Boston against the Stamp 
Officers. Daybreak disclosed hanging on a tree an effigy of the 
Stamp Officer Oliver After hanging all day, at nightfall it was 
taken down by the Sons of Liberty, who placed it on a bier and es- 
corted it through the principal streets in Boston to the home of Oliver, 
where, in the presence of a large number of people, it was burned. 

12. John Dickinson. 

14. On the 1 ith day of February, 1768, the Assembly of Mas- 
sachusetts adopted and sent to the various Colonial Assemblies a 
circular letter drawn up by Samuel Adams, informing them of the 
contents of a petition which the Massachusetts Assembly had sent 
to the King. This letter also urged united action against the op- 
pressive measures of the Ministry, and gave great offense to the 
King and Ministry. The Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Hills- 
borough, instructed Governor Bernard of Massachusetts to order 
the Assembly to rescind this letter, and in case of refusal to dis- 
solve this body. After a thorough discussion this request was re- 
fused by a vote of " ninety-two " to "seventeen." 



xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 

gentlemen in their carriages repaired to the Grey- 
hound Tavern in Roxbury, where a frugal and 
elegant entertainment was provided. The music 
played during the repast : After which the follow- 
ing toasts were given out, and the repeated dis- 
charge of cannon spoke the general assent. 

/. The King. 

2. §>ueen and Royal Family. 

j. Lord Cambden. 

4. Lord Chatham. 

5. Duke of Richmond. 

6. Marquis of Rockingham. 

7. General Conway. 
S. Lord Dartmouth. 

9. Earl of Chesterfield. 
10. Colonel Barre. 
//. General Howard. 



3. A strenuous upholder of the Constitutional rights of the Col- 
onies and a strong defender in the House of Lords of the doctrine, 
"No taxation without representation." Contemporary writers fre- 
quently spelt Camden's name as above. 

5. Another friend of America in the same body. 

6. Under whose ministry the Stamp Act was repealed. 

7. The leader in the House of Commons during the Rocking- 
ham Ministry. 

8. President of the Board of Trade in the Rockingham Minis- 
try, much loved in the Colonies. Dartmouth College bears his name. 

9. A warm adherent of America. 

10. The companion of Wolte at Quebec ; in replying to Town- 
send during one of the debates over the passage of the Stamp Acts 
he characterized the Americans as "Sons of Liberty," a term 
which immediately was applied throughout the Colonies to those 
who were resenting the interference of Parliament with their home 
government. 

11. A member of Parliament from Stamford who was active in 
obtaining the repeal of the Stamp Act. 



INTRODUCTION. xxxv 

12. Sir George Saville. 
/J. Sir William Meredith. 

14. Sir William Baker. 

15. John Wilkes, Esq., and a Speedy Reversal of 

his outlawry. 

16. The Farmer of Pennsylvania. 

if. The Massachusetts Ninety-Two. 

iS. Prosperity and Perpetuity to the British Em- 
pire, on Constitutional Principles. 

ig. North America : And her fair Daughters of 
Liberty. 

20. Theillustrious Patriots of the Kingdom of Ireland. 

21. The truly heroic Paschal Paoli, and all the 

brave Corsicans. 

22. The downfall of arbitrary and despotic Power 

in all Parts of the Earth ; and Liberty with- 
out Licentiousness to all mankind. 

2 j. A perpetual Union and Harmony between Great 
Britain and the Colonies, on the Principles 
of the Original Compact. 

2J.. To the immortal Memory of that Hero of 
Heroes William the Third. 

25. The speedy Establishment of a wise and perma- 
nent administration. 



12. Represented Yorkshire in the House of Commons ; a strong 
supporter of the Rockingham Ministry. 

13. Member of Parliament from Liverpool. Lord of the Ad- 
miralty during the Rockingham Administration. 

14. Also energetic in securing the repeal of the Stamp Act. 

15. The struggles of Wilkes excited keen interest in America. 

16. It is noted that this was the second time Dickinson's health 
was drunk that day. No other American residing in this country 
was toasted. 

20. In Letter X Dickinson warns against the fate of Ireland. 



xxxvi INTRODUCTION. 

26. The right noble Lords, and very worthy Com- 

moners, who voted for the Repeal of the stamp 
Act from Principle. 

27. Dennis De Berdt, Esq ; and all the true 

Friends of America in Great Britain, and 
those of Great Britain in America. 

28. The respectable Towns of Salem, Ipswich and 

Marblehead, with all the Absentees from the 
late Assembly, and their constituents, who 
have publickly approved of the Vote against 
Rescinding. 

29. May all Patriots be as wise as Serpents, and 

as harmless as Doves. 

jo. The Manufactories of North America, and 
the Banishment of Luxury, Dissipation and 
other Vices, Foreign and Domestic. 

ji. The removal of all Task-Masters, and an ef- 
fectual Redress of all other Grievances. 

32. The Militia of Great Britain and of the Col- 
onies. 

jj. As Iron sharpeneth Iron, so may the Coun- 
tenance of every good and virtuous Son and 
Daughter of Liberty, that of his or her 
Friend. 



27. The agent of Massachusetts in London. 

28. Representatives of these towns voted in favor of rescinding. 
Town meetings, however, were held, and the citizens of these 
places recorded themselves as endorsing the action of the majority 
in refusing the "Ministerial Mandates" and condemned the 
position assumed by their own representatives. In letters which ap- 
peared in the press a number of absentees from the Assembly boldly 
endorsed the action of the majority. 

30. Referring to the proposal of Dickinson quoted on page xxiii 
of the Introduction. 



INTRODUCTION, xxxvii 

34. The Assemblies on this vast and rapidly popu- 
lating Continent, who have treated a late 
haughty and " merely ministerial " Mandate 
" with all that Contempt it so justly deserves." 

33. Strong Halters and sharp axes to all such as 
respectively deserve them. 

36. Scalping Savages let loose in Tribes, rather 

than Legions of Placemen, Pensioners, and 
Walkerizing Dragoons. 

37. The Amputation of any Limb, if it be necessary 

to preserve the Body Politic from Perdition. 

38. The oppressed and distressed foreign Protes- 

tants. 

3p. The free and independent Cantons of Switzer- 
land. 

40. Their High Mightinesses the States General 

of Seven United Provinces. 

41. The King of Prussia. 

42. The Republic of Letters. 

43. The Liberty of the Press. 

44. Spartan, Roman, British Virtue, and Chris- 

tian Graces joined. 

43. Every man under his own Vine ! under his 
own Fig-Tree ! None to make us afraid ! 
And let all the People say, Amen ! 

Upon this happy occasion, the whole company 
with the approbation of their brethren in Roxbury, 
consecrated a tree in the vicinity ; under the shade 
of which, on some future anniversary, they say they 

54. Referring to the replies of the various Assemblies to the cir- 
cular letter and endorsements of the action of the Massachusetts 
Assembly. 

45. See page 51. 



xxxviii INTRODUCTION. 

shall commemorate the day, which shall liberate 
America from her present oppression ! Then 
making an agreeable excursion round Jamaica 
Pond, in which excursion they received the kind 
salutation of a Friend to the cause by the discharge 
of cannon at six o'clock they returned to Town ; 
and passing in slow and orderly procession 
through the principal streets, and the State-House, 
they retired to their respective dwellings. It is 
allowed that this cavalcade surpassed all that has 
ever been seen in America. The joy of the day 
was manly, and an uninterrupted regularity pre- 
sided through the whole. 

The two illustrations in this volume were 
selected for the purpose of recording preva- 
lent contemporary opinions of Dickinson. 

The frontispiece is a reproduction (slight- 
ly reduced in size) * of the very scarce 
print in which John Dickinson is crudely 
portrayed as the author of the " Farmer's 
Letters." It was first advertised for sale in 
the Pennsylvania " Chronicle " under date 
of October 12-17, 1768, as follows: 

Lately published and sold by R. Bell 

at James Emerson's, in Market-street, 

near the river, and at John 

Hart's vendue store, in Southward 

(Price One Shilling) 

an elegant engraved COPPER PLATE PRINT 

of the Patriotic American Farmer; 
The same glazed and framed, price Five Shillings. 

* Reproduced through the courtesy of the Library 
Company of Philadelphia. I wish also to express my 
obligation to my friends Messrs. Wilberforce Eames of 
the Lenox Library and Robert H. Kelby of the New 



INTRODUCTION. xxxix 

This specimen of early American engrav- 
ing, the work of some unknown artist and 
engraver, was undoubtedly inspired by the 
following article which appeared in the 
Pennsylvania " Chronicle " for May, 9—16, 
1768, as well as the many other newspapers 
in the colonies, so eager was the press to 
publish any information concerning the 
author of the " Farmer's Letters." The 
inscription is thus explained as well as the 
elimination of the vowels from Dickin- 
son's name. 

PHILADELPHIA 

On Tuesday last, by order of the Governor 
and Society of Fort St. David's, fourteen Gentle- 
men, members of that Company, waited upon J-n 
D-ck-nson Esq ; and presented the following ad- 
dress, in a Box of Heart of Oak. 

Respected Sir, 

When a Man of Abilities, prompted by Love of 
his Country, exerts them in her Cause, and ren- 
ders her the most eminent Services, not to be sensible, 
of the Benefits received, is Stupidity ; not to be grate- 
ful for them, is Baseness. 

Influenced by this Sentiment, we, the Governor 
and Company of Fort St. David's, who among other 
Inhabitants of British America, are indebted to you 
for your most excellent and generous Vindication of 
Liberties dearer to us than our Lives, beg Leave to 
return you our heartiest Thanks, and offer to you 
the greatest Mark of Esteem, that, as a Body, it is 
in our Power to bestow, by admitting you, as we 
hereby do, a Member of our Society. 



York Historical Society for repeated access to the volumes 
of Colonial Newspapers, etc., in the collections under 
their charge. 



xl INTRODUCTION. 

When that destructive Project of Taxation, which 
your Integrity and Knowledge so signally contrib- 
uted to baffle about two years ago, was lately re- 
newed under a Disguise so artfully contrived as to 
delude Millions, You, sir, watchful for the Interests 
of Your Country, perfectly acquainted with them, 
and undaunted 'in asserting them, Alone detected the 
Monster concealed from others by an altered Ap- 
pearance, exposed it, stripped of its insidious cover- 
ing, in its own horrid Shape, and, we firmly trust 
by the Blessing of God on Your Wisdom and Vir- 
tue, will again extricate the British Colonies on this 
Continent from the cruel Snares of Oppression; for 
we already perceive these Colonies roused by your 
strong and seasonable Call, pursuing the salutary 
Measures advised by You for obtaining Redress. 

Nor is this all that you have performed for Your 
native Land. Animated by a sacred Zeal, guided 
by Truth and supported by fustice, You have pene- 
trated to the Foundations of the Constitution, have 
poured the clearest Light on the important Points, 
hitherto involved in a Darkness bewildering even 
the Learned, and have established with an amazing 
Force and Plainness of Argument, the true dis- 
tinctions and grand principles, that will fully in- 
struct Ages yet unborn, what Rights belong to 
them, and the best Methods of defending them. 

To Merit far less distinguished, ancient Greece or 
Rome would have decreed Statues and Honours with- 
out Number : But it is Tour Fortune and your 
Glory, Sir, that You live in such Times, and possess 
such exalted Worth, that the Envy of those, whose 
Duty it is to applaud You, can conceive no other 
Consolation, than by withholding those Praises in 
Public, which all honest Men acknowledge in Pri- 
vate that you have deserved. 

We present to you, sir, a small gift of a So- 
ciety not dignified by any legal authority ; But 
when you consider this gift as expressive of the 
sincere Affection of many of your Fellow Citizens 
for Your Person, and of their unlimited Approba- 
tion of the noble Principles maintained in your un- 



INTRODUCTION. xli 

equalled Labours, we hope this Testimony of our 
Sentiments will be acceptable to you. 

May that all-gracious Being, which in kindness 
to these colonies gave your valuable Life Existence 
at the critical Period when it will be most wanted, 
grant it along Continuance, filled with every Felic- 
ity ; and when your Country sustains its dreadful 
loss, may you enjoy the Happiness of Heaven, and 
on Earth may your Memory be cherished, as we 
doubt not it will be, to the latest Posterity. 
Signed by the Order of the Society, 

John Bayard, Secretary. 

The box was finely decorated, and the Inscrip- 
tion neatly done in Letters of Gold. On the Top 
was represented the Cap of Liberty on a Spear, 
resting on a Cypher of the Letters I. D. Under- 
neath the Cypher in a semicircular Label - - - Pro 
Patria Around the whole the following words : 

The Gift of the Governor and Society 
of Fort St. David's to the Author of the 
Farmer's Letters, in grateful Testimony of 
the very eminent Services thereby rendered 
to this Country, 1768. 

On the Inside of the Top — 

The Liberties of 

The British Colonies in America 

Asserted 

With Attic Eloquence, 

And Roman Spirit, 

by 

J-n D-k-ns-n * Esqr.-, 

Barrister at Law. 

On the Inside of the Bottom — 

Ita Cuique Eveniat 
ut de Republica Meruit. 

On the Outside of the Bottom — A sketch of 
Fort St. David's. 



*The Name at length. 



xlii INTRODUCTION. 

To which the following Answer was returned. 

Gentlemen, 

I very gratefully receive the Favour you have 
been pleased to bestow upon me, in admitting me a 
Member of your Company ; and I return you my 
heartiest Thanks for your Kindness. 

The " Esteem " of worthy fellow Citizens is a 
Treasure of greatest Price ; and as no man can more 
highly value it than I do, Your Society in " ex- 
pressing the Affection " of so many respectable 
Persons for me, affords Me the sincerest Pleasure. 

Nor will this Pleasure be lessened by reflecting, 
that you may have regarded with a generous Parti- 
ality my Attempts to promote the Welfare of our 
Country ; for the Warmth of your Praises in com- 
mending a Conduct you suppose to deserve them, 
gives Worth to these Praises, by proving your Merit, 
while you attribute Merit to another. 

Your Characters, gentlemen, did not need this 
Evidence to convince Me, how much I ought to 
prize Your " Esteem " or how much You deserved 
Mine. 

I think myself extremely fortunate, in having ob- 
tained your favorable Opinion, which I shall con- 
stantly and carefully endeavor to preserve. 

I most heartily wish you every Kind of Happi- 
ness, and particularly that you may enjoy the com- 
fortable Prospect of transmitting to your Posterity 
those " Liberties " dearer to You than your Lives, 
" which God gave to you, and which no inferior 
Power has a Right to take away." 

The potter's art, which from time imme- 
morial has been the means of transmitting 
history, furnishes the other illustration and 
also perpetuates the estimate of Dickinson's 
character held by William Duesbury, Eng- 
land's greatest manufacturer of porcelain. It 
pictures a porcelain statuette of Mrs. Cather- 









'•Htl.SEA DERBY PORCELAIN STATUETTE OF CATHERINE MACAULAY 



1 hi 

man can 

respect 
crest Pleasure, 
ned by reflecting, 
nerous Parti- 
■lfare ot 

(tn- 
•^your Merit, 


















Th- 
ru* 

tit"-, 

•ki i 

}•■ 
It 
e of Mrs. Cather- 

YAJUAOAM SHIJIIHIAO '-IO ITTaUTATC H1AJ3DJIOH Y«JI3a A38J3H' 



INTRODUCTION. xlv 

ine Macaulay, a well-known historian, whose 
" History of England from the Accession of 
James the First to that of the Brunswick 
Line" and other historical writings met with 
great approval among the Whig party in 
England and whose decided approval of the 
stand taken by the colonies, gave her great 
popularity in America. This statuette, meas- 
uring i 2J/2 inches in height, is modeled to a 
certain extent after the statue of this lady 
which was erected in 1777 in the Church of 
St. Stephen, Walbrook, London. Mrs. 
Macaulay appears leaning upon her " His- 
tories of England," which rest on the top of 
a pedestal, on the front of which is the in- 
scription, " Government a Power Delegated 
for the Happiness of Mankind conducted by 
Wisdom, Justice and Mercy." Beneath are 
the words, '■'■American Congress." On the side 
of the pedestal the name of Dickinson ap- 
pears, preceded by the names of those noble 
writers, England's great advocates and ex- 
pounders of Constitutional liberty, Sydney, 
Hampden, Milton, Locke, Harrington, 
Ludlow and Marvel. This beautiful porce- 
lain statuette was moulded at the Chelsea 
factory in 1777, the same year in which 
Boswell chronicles Dr. Johnson's visit there, 
noting, " The china was beautiful, but Dr. 
Johnson justly observed it was too dear, for 
he could have vessels of silver as cheap as 
were here made of porcelain." 

The space at my disposal prevents my 



xlvi INTRODUCTION. 

quoting many a " Letter to the Printer " 
appealing for justice for the Colonials as 
well as numerous contributed articles which 
appeared during the next few years in the 
English press, the contents of which clearly 
show how strongly Dickinson's arguments 
had influenced their respective authors. 
While it is true that these sentiments were 
attacked both at home and abroad, the 
attacks soon lost their vehemence. Strange 
as it may seem, more protests against the 
course of the ministry than denunciations 
of the doings of the colonial Assemblies are 
found in the columns of the English press 
of the period. The demand for the argu- 
ments contained in the" Farmer's Letters" 
was not lessened by subsequent events as 
their popularity demanded the publishing 
of another London edition in 1774. 

Certainly to John Dickinson for his 
masterly defence of the rights of the Colo- 
nies America owes an everlasting debt of 
gratitude. The logic of his claims and his 
warnings as to what must be the ultimate 
result of the ministerial encroachments upon 
the liberties of Englishmen did much to 
win over to the American cause in England 
that strong ally, the support of a large body 
of thoughtful Englishmen. These men 
actively condemned the ministerial actions 
and during the war which followed caused 
the course of the government to be bitterly 
opposed by an influential and constantly 



INTRODUCTION. xlvii 

growing minority in Parliament. Through 
their efforts was fostered a public senti- 
ment which caused the war to be prose- 
cuted in a half-hearted manner and obliged 
a power-loving King to fill the depleted 
ranks of his army with German mercenaries, 
so impossible was it to force a sufficient num- 
ber of his own liberty-loving subjects to fight 
against their kindred living in the land so 
happily alluded to by a contributor to the 
London "Chronicle" (June 3-6, 1769), 
in the following poem : 

The Genius of America to her Sons 

Who'd know the sweets of Liberty ? 

'Tis to climbe the mountain's brow, 

Thence to discern rough industry, 

At the harrow or the plough ; 

'Tis where my sons their crops have sown, 

Calling the harvest all their own ; 

'Tis where the heart to truth allied, 

Never felt unmanly fear ; 

'Tis where the eye with milder pride, 

Nobly sheds sweet pity's tear ; 

Such as America yet shall see, 

These are the sweets of Liberty. 



NOTES. 



A 



NOTES. 
I. 

N Address from the Moderator and Free- 
men of the Town of Providence in the 
Colony of Rhode-Island,and Providence Plantation 
convened in open Meeting the 20th day of June, 
1768, to the Author of a Series of Letters signed 

A FARMER. 

Sir, 

In your Retirement, " near the Banks of the 
River Delaware," where you are compleating, in a 
rational way, the Number of Days allotted to 
you by Divine Goodness, the consciousness of 
having employed those Talents which God hath 
bestowed upon You, for the Support of our 
Rights, must afford you a Satisfaction vastly ex- 
ceeding that, which is derived to you from the 
universal Approbation of Your Letters, — How- 
ever amidst the general Acclamation of your 
Praise, we the Moderator and Freemen of the 
ancient Town of Providence cannot be silent ; 
although we would not offend your Delicacy, or 
incur the Imputation of Flattery in expressing our 
Gratitude to you. 

Your Benevolence to Mankind, fully discover- 
able from your Writings, doubtless caused you to 
address your countrymen, whom you tenderly 
call Dear and Beloved, in a Series of Letters, 
wherein you have with a great Judgment, and in 
the most spirited and forcible Manner explained 
their Rights and Privileges ; and vindicated them 
against such as would reduce these extensive Do- 



lii NOTES. 

minions of His Majesty to Poverty, Misery, and 
Slavery. This Your patriotic Exertion in our 
Cause and indeed in the Cause of all the human 
Race in some Degree, hath rendered you very dear 
to us, although we know not your Person. 

We deplore the Frailty of human Nature, in 
that it is necessary that we should be frequently 
awakened into Attention to our Duty in Matters 
very plain and incontrovertible, if we would suffer 
ourselves to consider them. From this Inattention 
to Things evidently the Duty and Interest of the 
World, we suppose despotic Rule to have orig- 
inated, and all the Train of Miseries consequent 
thereupon. 

The virtuous and good Man, who rouses an 
injured Country from their Lethargy, and animates 
them into active and successful Endeavours for 
casting off the Burdens imposed on them, and ef- 
fecting a full Enjoyment of the Rights of Men, 
which no Human Creature ought to violate, will 
merit the warmest Expressions of Gratitude from 
his Countrymen, for his Instrumentality in saving 
them and their Posterity. 

As the very Design of instituting civil Govern- 
ment in the World was to secure to Individuals a 
quiet Enjoyment of their native Rights, wherever 
there is a Departure from this great and only 
End, impious Force succeeds. The Blessings of 
a just Government, and the Horror of brutal 
Violence are both inexpressible. As the latter is 
generally brought upon People by Degrees, it will 
be their Duty to watch against even the smallest 
attempt to " innovate a single Iota " in their 
Privilege. 

With Hearts truly loyal to the King, we feel 
the greatest concern at divers Acts of the British 
Parliament, relative to these colonies. We are 
clear and unanimous in Sentiment that they are 



NOTES. liii 

subversive of our Liberties, and derogatory to the 
Power and Dignity of the several Legislatures es- 
tablished in America. 

Permit us, Sir, to assure you that we feel an in- 
effable Gratitude to you, for sending forth your 
Letters at a Time when the Exercise of great 
Abilities was necessary. We sincerely wish that 
You may see the Fruit of your Labours. We on 
our parts shall be ready at all Times to evince to 
the World that we will not surrender our privi- 
leges to any of our Fellow Subjects, but will ear- 
nestly contend for them, hoping that the "Al- 
mighty will look upon our righteous contest with 
gracious approbation." We hope that the Con- 
duct of the Colonies on this Occasion will be 
"peaceable, prudent, firm, and joint; and such as 
will show their Loyalty to the best of Sovereigns, 
and that they know what they owe to themselves 
as well as to Great-Britain. " 

Signed by Order 

JAMES ANGELL, Town Clerk. 



I I . 

FROM THE MONTHLY REVIEW. 
LONDON, JULY, 1768. 

" Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, to (he 
Inhabitants of the British Colonies. Svo. 2s. 
Almon. 7/68. 

" We have, in the Letters now before us, a calm 
yet full inquiry into the right of the British parlia- 
ment, lately assumed, to tax the American colo- 
nies ; the unconstitutional nature of which at- 
tempt is maintained in a well-connected chain of 
close and manly reasoning; and though from this 
character, it is evident that detached passages 



liv NOTES. 

must appear to a disadvantage, yet it is but just 
to give our Readers some specimens of the man- 
ner in which the author asserts the rights of his 
American brethren ; subjects of the British gov- 
ernment, as he pleads, carrying their birthrights 
with them wherever they settle as such. 

' Colonies, says he, were formerly planted by 
warlike nations, to keep their enemies in awe ; to 
relieve their country overburthened with inhabi- 
tants ; or to discharge a number of discontented 
and troublesome citizens. But in more modern 
ages, the spirit of violence being, in some measure, 
if the expression may be allowed, sheathed in com- 
merce, colonies have been settled by the nations of 
Europe for the purposes of trade. These purposes 
were to be attained, by the colonies raising for their 
mother country those things which she did not pro- 
duce herself; and by supplying themselves from 
her with things they wanted. These were the na- 
tional objects in the commencement of our colo- 
nies, and have been uniformly so in their promo- 
tion. 

' To answer these grand purposes, perfect liberty 
was known to be necessary; all history proving, that 
trade and freedom are nearly related to each other. 
By a due regard to this wise and just plan, the in- 
fant colonies, exposed in the unknown climates 
and unexplored wildernesses of this new world, 
lived, grew, and flourished. 

' The parent country, with undeviating prudence 
and virtue, attentive to the first principles of colo- 
nization, drew to herself the benefits she might 
reasonably expect, and preserved to her children 
the blessings, upon which those benefits were 
founded. She made laws, obliging her colonies to 
carry to her all those products which she wanted 
for her own use ; and all those raw materials which 
she chose herself to work up. Besides this restric- 
tion, she forbade them to procure manufactures from 
any other part of the globe, or even the products of 
European countries, which alone could rival her, 



NOTES. lv 

without being first brought to her. In short, by a 
variety of laws, she regulated their trade in such a 
manner as she thought most conducive to their mu- 
tual advantage and her own welfare. A power was 
reserved to the crown of repealing any laws that 
should be enacted : the executive authority of gov- 
ernment was also lodged in the crown, and its rep- 
resentatives ; and an appeal was secured to the 
crown from all judgments in the administration of 
justice. 

' For all these powers, established by the mother 
country over the colonies ; for all these immense 
emoluments derived by her from them ; for all their 
difficulties and distresses in fixing themselves, what 
was the recompense made them ? A communica- 
tion of her rights in general, and particularly of that 
great one, the foundation of all the rest — that their 
property, acquired with so much pain and hazard, 
should be disposed of by none but themselves — or, 
to use beautiful and emphatic language of the sacred 
scriptures, "that they should sit every man under his 
vine, and under his fig-tree, and none should make 
them afraid." 

' Can any man of candour and knowledge deny 
that these institutions form an affinity between 
Great Britain and her colonies, that sufficiently se- 
cures their dependence upon her ? Or that for her 
to levy taxes upon them is to reverse the nature of 
things ? Or that she can pursue such a meas- 
ure without reducing them to a state of vassal- 
age ? 

4 If any person cannot conceive the supremacy 
of Great Britain to exist, without the power of 
laying taxes to levy money upon us, the history of 
the colonies, and of Great Britain, since their set- 
tlement, will prove the contrary. He will there 
find the amazing advantages arising to her from 
them — the constant exercise of her supremacy — 
and their filial submission to it, without a single 
rebellion, or even the thought of one, from their 
first emigration to this moment — and all these 
things have happened, without one instance of 



lvi NOTES. 

Great Britain's laying taxes to levy money upon 
them. 

' How many British authors have demonstrated, 
that the present wealth, power and glory of their 
country, are founded upon these colonies ? As 
constantly as streams tend to the ocean have they 
been pouring the fruits of all their labours into 
their mother's lap. Good heaven ! and shall a total 
oblivion of former tendernesses and blessings, be 
spread over the minds of a good and wise nation by 
the sordid arts of intriguing men,who, covering their 
selfish projects under pretences of public good, first 
enrage their countrymen into a frenzy of passion, 
and then advance their own influence and interest, 
by gratifying the passion, which they themselves 
have basely excited. 

' Hitherto Great Britain has been contented with 
her prosperity, moderation has been the rule of her 
conduct. But now, a generous, humane people, 
that so often have protected the liberty of strangers, 
is inflamed into an attempt to tear a privilege from 
her own children, which if executed, must, in their 
opinion, sink them into slaves: and for what? for 
a pernicious power, not necessary to her as her own 
experience may convince her ; but horribly dread- 
ful and detestable to her. 

' It seems extremely probable, that when cool, 
dispassionate prosperity, shall consider the affection- 
ate intercourse, the reciprocal benefits, and the un- 
suspecting confidence, that have subsisted between 
these colonies and their parent country, for such a 
length of time, they will execrate, with the bitter- 
est curses, the infamous memory of those men, 
whose pestilential ambition unnecessarily, wantonly, 
first opened the sources of civil discord between 
them ; first turned their love into jealousy ; and first 
taught these provinces, filled with grief and anxiety, 
to enquire.' 

" As every community possessed of valuable 
privileges, and desirous to preserve the enjoyment 
of them, ought to be very cautious of admitting 



NOTES. Ivii 

innovations from their established forms of polit- 
ical administration, our Author does not confine 
his views to the immediate effects of the laws lately 
passed regarding America ; but considers the nec- 
essary tendency of the precedents ; thus he says, 

' I have looked over every statute relating to these 
colonies, from their first settlement to this time ; 
and I find everyone of them founded on this prin- 
ciple, till the stamp-act administration. All before, 
are calculated to regulate trade, and preserve or pro- 
mote a mutually beneficial intercourse between the 
several constituent parts of the empire; and though 
many of them imposed duties on trade, yet those 
duties were always imposed with design to restrain 
the commerce of one part, that was injurious to an- 
other, and thus to promote the general welfare. 
The raising a revenue thereby was never intended. 
Thus, the king by his judges in his courts of justice, 
impose fines, which altogether amount to a very con- 
siderable sum, and contribute to the support of gov- 
ernment ; but this is merely a consequence arising 
from restrictions, that only meant to keep peace, 
and prevent confusion ; and surely a man would 
argue very loosely, who should conclude from hence, 
that the king has a right to levy money in general 
upon his subjects. Never did the British parlia- 
ment, till the period above mentioned, think of im- 
posing duties in America, for the purpose of raising a 
revenue. Mr. Grenville first introduced this lan- 
guage, in the preamble to the fourth of George 
III. chap. 15, which has these words — "and whereas 
it is just and necessary that a revenue be raised in your 
majesty's said dominions in America, for defraying the 
expenses of defending, protecting and securing the same : 
We your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, 
the commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assem- 
bled, being desirous to make some provisions in this 
present session of parliament, toiuards raising the said 
revenue in America, have resolved to give and grant 
unto your majesty the several rates and duties here- 
inafter mentioned," etc. 



Iviii NOTES. 

' A few months after came the stamp-act, which 
reciting this, proceeds in the same strange mode of 
expression, thus — " And whereas it is just and nec- 
essary, that provision be made for raising a further 
revenue ivithin your majesty's dominions in America, to- 
wards defraying the said expenses, we your majesty's 
most dutiful and loyal subjects, the commons of 
Great Britain, etc., give and grant" etc., as be- 
fore. 

4 The last act, granting duties upon paper, etc., 
carefully pursues these modern precedents. The 
preamble is, "Whereas it is expedient, that a revenue 
should be raised in your majesty's dominions in America 
for making a more certain and adequate provision for 
defraying the charge of the administration of justice, 
and the support of civil government in such provinces, 
where it shall be found necessary ; and towards the 
further defraying of the expences of defending, pro- 
tecting, and securing the said dominions, we your maj- 
esty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the commons 
of Great Britain, etc. give and grant," etc. as be- 
fore. 

'Here we may observe an authority expresly claim- 
ed and exerted to impose duties on these colonies; 
not for the regulation of trade ; not for the preser- 
vation or promotion of a mutually beneficial inter- 
course between the several constituent parts of the 
empire, heretofore the sole objects of parliamentary 
institutions; but for the single purpose of levying money 
upon us.' 

" Again in another place, 

' What but the indisputable, the acknowledged 
exclusive right of the colonies to tax themselves, 
could be the reason, that in this long period of 
more than one hundred and fifty years, no statute 
was ever passed for the sole purpose of raising a 
revenue from the colonies ? And how clear, how 
cogent must that reason be, to which every parlia- 
ment, and every ministry for so long a time sub- 
mitted, without a single attempt to innovate ? 

' England, in part of that course of years, and 



NOTES. lix 

Great Britain, in other parts, was engaged in sev- 
eral fierce and expensive wars ; troubled with some 
tumultuous and bold parliaments ; governed by 
many daring and wicked ministers ; yet none of 
them ever ventured to touch the Palladium of 
American liberty. Ambition, avarice, faction, 
tyranny, all revered it. Whenever it was necessary 
to raise money on the colonies, the requisitions of 
the crown were made, and dutifully complied with. 
The parliament, from time to time, regulated their 
trade, and that of the rest of the empire, to pre- 
serve their dependence and the connections of the 
whole in good order.' 

"The amount of present duties exacted in an 
unusual way is no part of the object in question; 
for our Pennsylvanian Farmer observes : 

' Some persons may think this act of no conse- 
quence, because the duties are so small. A fatal 
error. That is the very circumstance most alarm- 
ing to me. For I am convinced, that the au- 
thors of this law would never have obtained an 
act to raise so trifling a sum as it must do, had 
they not intended by it to establish a precedent for 
future use. \ To console ourselves with the small- 
ness of the duties, is to walk deliberately into the 
snare that is set for us, praising the neatness of the 
workmanship. Suppose the duties imposed by the 
late act could' be paid by these distressed colonies 
with the utmost ease, and that the purposes to which 
they are to be applied, were the most reasonable 
and equitable that can be conceived, the contrary 
of which I hope to demonstrate before these letters 
are concluded ; yet even in such a supposed case, 
these colonies ought to regard the act with abhor- 
rence. For who are a free people ? Not those, 
over whom government is reasonably and equitably 
exercised, but those, who live under a government 
so constitutionally checked and controuled, that proper 
provision is made against its being otherwise ex- 
ercised. 



k NOTES . 

' The late act is founded on the destruction of 
this constitutional security. If the parliament have 
a right to lay a duty of four shillings and eight 
pence on a hundred weight of glass, or a ream of 
paper, they have a right to lay a duty of any other 
sum on either. They may raise the duty, as the 
author before quoted says has been done in some 
countries, till it " exceeds seventeen or eighteen 
times the value of the commodity." In short, if 
they have a right to levy a tax of one penny upon 
us, they have a right to levy a million upon us ; for 
where does their right stop ? At any given num- 
ber of pence, shillings or pounds ? To attempt to 
limit their right, after granting it to exist at all, 
is as contrary to reason — as granting it to exist at 
all, is contrary to justice. If they have any right 
to tax us — then, whether our own money shall 
continue in our pockets or not, depends no longer 
on us, but on them, " There is nothing which "we" 
can call our own ; or, to use the words of Mr. 
Locke — ivbat property have " we " in that which 
another may, by right, take, when he pleases, to him- 
self?" 

' These duties which will inevitably be levied upon 
us — which are now levying upon us — are expresly 
laid for the sole purpose of taking money. This is the 
true definition of " taxes." They are therefore 
taxes. This money is to be taken from us. We are 
therefore taxed. Those who are taxed without their 
own consent, expressed by themselves or their rep- 
resentatives are slaves. We are taxed without our 
own consent, expressed by ourselves or representa- 
tives. We are therefore slaves.' 

" Further, 

' Indeed nations in general are more apt to feel 
than to think ; and therefore nations in general 
have lost their liberty : for as the violation of the 
rights of the governed are commonly not only spe- 
cious, but small at the beginning, they spread over 
the multitude in such a manner, as to touch indi- 
viduals but slightly ; thus they are disregarded. The 



NOTES. lxi 

power or profit that arises from these violations, 
centering in a few persons, is to them considerable. 
For this reason, the Governors having in view their 
particular purposes, successively preserve an uni- 
formity of conduct for attaining them : they regu- 
larly increase and multiply the first injuries, till at 
length the inattentive people are compelled to per- 
ceive the heaviness of their burthen. They begin 
to complain and inquire — but too late. They find 
their oppressions so strengthened by success, and 
themselves so entangled in examples of express 
authority on the part of their rulers, and of tacit 
recognition on their own part, that they are quite 
confounded : for millions entertain no other idea of 
the legality of power, than that it is founded on the 
exercise of power. They then voluntarily fasten 
their chains by adopting a pusillanimous opinion 
" that there will be too much danger in attempting 
a remedy " — or another opinion no less fatal, " that 
the government has a right to treat them as it 
does." They then seek a wretched relief for their 
minds, by persuading themselves, that to yield their 
obedience, is to discharge their duty. The deplorable 
poverty of spirit, that prostrates all the dignity be- 
stowed by Divine Providence on our nature — of 
course succeeds.' 

" With regard to the proper conduct of the col- 
onies on this occasion he premises the following 
questions : 

' Has not the parliament expressly avoived their 
intention of raising money from us for certain pur- 
poses ? Is not this scheme popular in Great Britain ? 
Will the taxes imposed by the late act, answer those 
purposes ? If it will, must it not take an immense 
sum from us ? If it will not, is it to be expected, that 
the parliament will not fully execute their intention, 
when it is pleasing at home, and not opposed here ? 
Must not this be done by imposing new taxes ? Will 
not every addition thus made to our taxes, be an ad- 
dition to the power of the British legislature, by 
increasing the number of officers employed in the col- 



lxii NOTES. 

lection ? Will not every additional tax therefore 
render it more difficult to abrogate any of them ? 
When a branch of revenue is once established, does 
it not appear to many people invidious and unduti- 
ful, to attempt to abolish it? If taxes sufficient to 
accomplish the intention of the parliament, are im- 
posed by the parliament, what taxes will remain to 
be imposed by our assemblies ? If no material taxes 
remain to be imposed by them, what must become 
of tbern, and the people they represent ? 

" Our Author all along, however, asserts that the 
real interest of English America consists in its 
proper dependence on the mother country, at the 
same time that he strenuously exhorts his country- 
men to oppose, by all the suitable means in their 
power, every incroachment on those constitutions 
under the sanction of which they settled on those 
remote and uncultivated shores, whereon they 
have so industriously established themselves. He 
remarks with a spirit which no one, it is appre- 
hended, can condemn : 

' I am no further concerned in anything affecting 
America, than any one of you ; and when liberty 
leaves it, I can quit it much more conveniently than 
most of you : but while divine providence, that gave 
me existence in a land of freedom, permits my head 
to think, my lips to speak, and my hands to move, 
I shall so highly and gratefully value the blessing 
received, as to take care, that my silence and inac- 
tivity shall not give my implied assent to any act, 
degrading my brethren and myself from the birth- 
right, wherewith heaven itself " hath made us 
free." 

" The consequence of Great Britain exerting 
this disagreeable power, he shews, in a long train 
of arguments, to have a tendency very fatal to the 
liberty of America, which he illustrates by exam- 
ining into the application of the pensions on the 



NOTES. lxiii 

Irish establishment; and sums up his reasoning 
with the following positions : 

' Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our 
mind — that we cannot be happy, without being free — 
that we cannot be free, ivithout being secure — in our 
property — that we cannot be secure in our property, 
if, without our consent, others may, as by right, take it 
away — that taxes imposed on us by parliament, do thus 
take it away — that duties laid for the sole purposes of 
raising money, are taxes — that attempts to lay such 
duties should be instantly and firmly opposed — that this 
opposition can never be effectual, unless it is the 
united effort of those provinces — that therefore be- 
nevolence of temper towards each other, and unanimity 
of counsels, are essential to the welfare of the whole — 
and lastly, that for this reason, every man amongst 
us, who in any manner would encourage either dis- 
sention, diffidence, or indifference, between these 
colonies, is an enemy to himself, and to his 
country. 

' The belief of these truths, I verily think, my 
countrymen, is indispensably necessary to your 
happiness. I beseech you, therefore, " teach them 
diligently unto your children, and talk of them when 
you sit in your houses, and when you walk by the 
way, and when you lie down and when you rise 
up." 

' What have these colonies to ask, while they con- 
tinue free ? or what have they to dread, but insidi- 
ous attempts to subvert their freedom ? Their 
prosperity does not depend on ministerial favours 
doled out to particular provinces. They form one 
political body, of which each colony is a member. 
Their happiness is founded on their constitution ; 
and is to be promoted by preserving that constitu- 
tion in unabated vigour, throughout every part. A 
spot, a speck of decay, however small the limb on 
which it appears, and however remote it may seem 
from the vitals, should be alarming. We have all 
the rights requisite for our prosperity. The legal 
authority of Great Britain may indeed lay hard re- 



lxiv NOTES. 

strictions upon us ; but, like the spear of Telephus, 
it will cure as well as wound. Her unkindness 
will instruct and compel us, after some time to dis- 
cover, in our industry and frugality, surprising rem- 
edies — if our rights continue unviolated : for as long 
as the products of our labour, and the rewards of our 
care, can properly be called our own, so long will it 
be worth our while to be industrious and frugal. 
But if we plow — sow — reap — gather and thresh — we 
find, that we plow — sow — reap — gather and thresh 
for others, whose pleasure is to be the sole limitation 
how much they shall take and how much they shall 
leave, why should we repeat the unprofitable toil ? 
Horses and oxen are content with that portion of 
the fruits of their work, which their owners assign to 
them, in order to keep them strong enough to raise 
successive crops ; but even these beasts will not sub- 
mit to draw for their masters, until they are subdued 
with whips and goads. Let us take care of our rights, 
and we therein take care of our property. " Slavery 
is ever preceded by sleep." Individuals may be 
dependent on ministers if they please. States should 
scorn it ; and if you are not wanting to yourselves, 
you will have a proper regard paid you by those, to 
whom if you are not respectable, you will infallibly 
be contemptible. But — if we have already forgot 
the reasons that urged us, with unexampled unani- 
mity, to exert ourselves two years ago — if our zeal 
for the public good is worn out before the homespun 
cloaths which it caused us to have made — if our reso- 
lutions are so faint, as by our present conduct to 
condemn our own late successful example — if we are 
not affected by any reverence for the memory of our 
ancestors, who transmitted to us that freedom in 
which they had been blest — if we are not animated 
by any regard for posterity, to whom, by the most 
sacred obligations, we are bound to deliver down 
the invaluable inheritance — then, indeed, any min- 
ister, or any tool of a minister, or any creature of a 
tool of a minister — or any lower instrument of admin- 
istration, if lower there be, is a personage whom it 
may be dangerous to ofFend.' 



NOTES. lxv 

" In justification of the Letter-writer's loyalty, 
and the integrity of his intentions, he declares in a 
note : 

' If any person shall imagine that he discovers in 
these letters the least disaffection towards our 
most excellent sovereign, and the parliament of 
Great Britain, or the least dislike of the dependence 
of these colonies on that kingdom, I beg that such 
person will not form any judgment on particular 
expressions, but will consider the tenour of all the 
letters taken together. In that case, I flatter my- 
self that every unprejudiced reader will be con- 
vinced, that the true interests of Great Britain are 
as dear to me as they ought to be to every good 
subject. 

' If I am an enthusiast in anything, it is in my 
zeal for the perpetual dependance of these colonies 
on the mother country. — A dependance founded on 
mutual benefits, the continuance of which can be 
secured only by mutual affections. Therefore it is, 
that with extreme apprehension I view the smallest 
seeds of discontent, which are unwarily scattered 
abroad. Fifty or sixty years will make astonish- 
ing alterations in these colonies ; and this consider- 
ation should render it the business of Great Britain 
more and more to cultivate our good dispositions 
toward her : but the misfortune is, that those great 
men, who are wrestling for power at home, think 
themselves very slightly interested in the prosperity 
of their country fifty or sixty years hence ; but are 
deeply concerned in blowing up a popular clamour 
for supposed immediate advantages. 

' For my part, I regard Great Britain as a bul- 
wark happily fixed between these colonies and the 
powerful nations of Europe. That kingdom is 
our advanced post or fortification, ivhich remaining 
safe, we under its protection enjoying peace, may 
diffuse the blessings of religion, science, and lib- 
erty, through remote wildernesses. It is, therefore, 
incontestably our duty and our interest to support 
the strength of Great Britain. When, confiding 



lxvi NOTES. 

in that strength, she begins to forget from whence 
it arose, it will be an easy thing to shew the source. 
She may readily be reminded of the loud alarm 
spread among her merchants and tradesmen, by 
the universal association of these colonies, at the 
time of the stamp-act, not to import any of her 
manufactures. In the year 1718, the Russians 
and Swedes entered into an agreement, not to suf- 
fer Great Britain to export any naval stores from 
their dominions, but in Russian or Swedish ships, 
and at their own prices. Great Britain was dis- 
tressed. Pitch and tar rose to three pounds a barrel. 
At length she thought of getting these articles from 
the colonies ; and the attempt succeeding, they fell 
down to fifteen shillings. In the year 1756, Great 
Britain was threatened with an invasion: An easterly 
wind blowing for six weeks, she could not man 
her fleet ; and the whole nation was thrown into 
the utmost consternation. The wind changed. 
The American ships arrived. The fleet sailed in 
ten or fifteen days. There are some other reflec- 
tions on this subject worthy of the most deliberate 
attention of the British parliament ; but they are 
of such a nature that I do not chuse to mention 
them publicly. I thought I discharged my duty to 
my country, by taking the liberty, in the year 1765, 
while the stamp-act was in suspence, of writing my 
sentiments to a man of the greatest influence at 
home, who afterwards distinguished himself by es- 
pousing our cause in the debates concerning the re- 
peal of that act.' 

" When we review a performance well written, 
and founded upon laudable principles, if we do 
not restrain ourselves to a general approbation, 
which may be given in few words, the article will 
unavoidably contain more from the author of it, 
than from ourselves ; this, if any excuse is needful 
for enabling our Readers, in some measure, to 
judge for themselves, is pleaded as an apology for 
our copious extracts from these excellent letters. 



NOTES. lxvii 

To conclude ; if reason is to decide between us and 
our colonies, in the affairs here controverted, our 
Author, whose name the advertisements inform 
us is Dickenson,* will not perhaps easily meet with 
a satisfactory refutation." 



* Of Pennsylvania. See his dispute with Mr. Galloway, Re- 
view, vol. xxxii. p. 67. 



LETTERS 



FROM 



A FARMER. 



LETTERS 



FROM 



A FARMER in Pemifyfoania, 



To the INHABITANTS 



OF THE 



BRITISH COLONIES 



BOSTON : 

Printed by Mein and Fleeminc, and to 

BE SOLD BY JOHN MeIN, AT THE 

London Book-store, north- 
side of King-street, 

m DCC LXVIII. 



LETTERS 



FROM 



A FARMER. 



LETTER I . 

My Dear Countrymen, 

I AM a FARMER, fettled after a variety 
of fortunes, near the banks, of the river 
Delaware, in the province of Pennfylvania. 
I received a liberal education, and have 
been engaged in the bufy fcenes of life: But 
am now convinced, that a man may be as 
happy without buftle, as with it. My farm 
is fmall, my fervants are few, and good ; 
I have a little money at intereft ; I wifh for 
no more : my employment in my own af- 
fairs is eafy ; and with a contented grateful 
mind, I am compleating the number of 
days allotted to me by divine goodnefs. 

Being mafter of my time, I fpend a good 
deal of it in a library, which I think the 
moil valuable part of my fmall eftate ; and 



6 L ETTE R I . 

being acquainted with two or three gentle- 
men of abilities and learning, who honour 
me with their friendihip, I believe I have 
acquired a greater ihare of knowledge in 
hiffory, and the laws and conftitution of my 
country, than is generally attained by men 
of my clafs, many of them not being fo 
fortunate as I have been in the opportuni- 
ties of getting information. 

From infancy I was taught to love huma- 
nity and liberty. Inquiry and experience 
have iince confirmed my reverence for the 
leifons then given me, by convincing me 
more fully of their truth and excellence. 
Benevolence towards mankind excites wifhes 
for their welfare, and fuch wifhes endear the 
means of fulfilling them. Thole can be 
found in liberty alone, and therefore her 
facred caufe ought to be efpoufed by every 
man, on every occalion, to the utmoft of 
his power : as a charitable but poor per- 
fon does not withhold his mite, becaufe he 
cannot relieve all the diftreffes of the mife- 
rable, fo let not any honeft man fupprefs 
his fentiments concerning freedom, however 
fmall their influence is likely to be. Per- 
haps he may " a touch fome wheel" that 
will have an effecT: greater than he expedts. 

Thefe being my fentiments, I am encou- 
raged to offer to you, my countrymen, my 
thoughts on fome late tranfactions, that in 

(a) Pope. 



L ETTER I . 7 

my opinion are of the utmoft importance to 
you. Confcious of my defecrs, I have wait- 
ed fome time, in expectation of feeing the 
fubject treated by perfons much better qua- 
lified for the talk ; but being therein disap- 
pointed, and apprehenfive that longer delays 
will be injurious, I venture at length to re- 
quest the attention of the public, praying 
only for one thing, — that is that thefe lines 
may be read with the fame zeal for the hap- 
pinefs of Britilh America, with which they 
were wrote. 

With a good deal of furprife I have ob- 
ferved, that little notice has been taken of an 
acl: of parliament, as injurious in its principle 
to the liberties of thefe colonies, as the 
Stamp-act was: I mean the adt for fuf- 
pending the legislation of New- York. 

The aSfembly of that government com- 
plied with a former acl: of parliament, re- 
quiring certain provisions to be made for 
the troops in America, in every particular, 
I think, except the articles of fait, pepper, 
and vinegar. In my opinion they acted 
imprudently, considering all circumstances, 
in not complying fo far, as would have 
given Satisfaction, as leveral colonies did : 
but my diilike of their conduct in that 
inltance, has not blinded me fo much, that 
I cannot plainly perceive, that they have 
been puniShed in a manner pernicious to 
American freedom, and juStly alarming to 
all the colonies. 



8 LETTE R I . 

If the British Parliament has a 
legal authority to order, that we (hall fur- 
nifh a fingle article for the troops here, and 
to compel obedience to that order; they 
have the fame right to order us to fupply 
thofe troops with arms, cloaths, and every 
neceffary, and to compel obedience to that 
order alio ; in fhort, to lay any burdens 
they pleafe upon us. What is this but 
taxing us at a certain Jam, and leaving to 
us only the ttia?iner of raifing it? How is 
this mode more tolerable than the Stamp 
act ? Would that act have appeared more 
pleafing to A M e r i c a n s, if being ordered 
thereby to raife the fum total of the taxes, 
the mighty privilege had been left to them, 
of faying how much fhould be paid for 
an inftrument of writing on paper, and 
how much for another on parchment ? 

An act of parliament commanding us to 
do a certain thing, if it has any validity, 
is a tax upon us for the expence that accrues 
in complying with it, and for this reafon, I 
believe, every colony on the continent, that 
chofe to give a mark of their refped: for 
Great-Britain, in complying with the 
act relating to the troops, cautiouily avoided 
the mention of that act, left their conduct 
fhould be attributed to its fuppofed obliga- 
tion. 

The matter being thus ftated, the affembly 
of New-York either had, or had not a right 
to refufe fubmimon to that act. If they 



L ETTE R I . 9 

had, and I imagine no American will fay, 
they had not, then the parliament had no 
right to compel them to execute it. — If they 
had not that right, they had no right to 
punifh them for not executing it; and there- 
fore had no right to fufpend their legiflation, 
which is a puniihment. In fact, if the 
people of New-York cannot be legally taxed 
but by their own reprefentatives, they can- 
not be legally deprived of the privileges of 
making laws, only for infilling on that ex- 
clufive privilege of taxation. If they may 
be legally deprived in fuch a cafe of the 
privilege of making laws, why may they 
not, with equal reafon, be deprived of every 
other privilege ? Or why may not every 
colony be treated in the fame manner, 
when any of them (hall dare to deny their 
afTent to any impofitions that fhall be di- 
recled ? Or what fignifies the repeal of the 
Stamp-Act, if thefe colonies are to lofe 
their other privileges, by not tamely fur- 
rendering that of taxation? 

There is one confideration arifing from this 
fufpicion, which is not generally attended to, 
but fhews its importance very clearly. It was 
not necejfary that this fufpenfion mould be 
caufed by an act of parliament. The crown 
might have restrained the governor of New- 
York, even from calling the aflembly toge- 
ther, by its prerogative in the royal govern- 
ments. This flep, I fuppofe, would have 

B 



io LETTER I . 

been taken, if the conduft of the affembly of 
New-York, had been regarded as an aft of 
difobedience to the crown alone : but it is 
regarded as an aft of " difobedience to 
" the authority of the British Legisla- 
" ture." This gives the fufpeniion a 
confequence vaftly more afFefting. It is a 
parliamentary aifertion of the fnpre me autho- 
rity of the Britijh legijlature over thefe colo- 
nies in the part of taxation ; and is intend- 
ed to compel New-York unto a fubmiflion 
to that authority. It feems therefore to me 
as much a violation of the liberty of the peo- 
ple of that province, and confequently of all 
thefe colonies, as if the parliament had fent a 
number of regiments to be quartered upon 
them till they fhould comply. For it is evi- 
dent, that the fufpenfion is meant as a com- 
pullion ; and the method of compelling is to- 
tally indifferent. It is indeed probable, that the 
fight of red coats, and the beating of drums 
would have been mod alarming, becaufe 
people are generally more influenced by their 
eyes and ears than by their reafon : But who- 
ever ferioufly conliders the matter, muff 
perceive, that a dreadful flroke is aimed at 
the liberty of thefe colonies : For the caufe 
of one is the caufe of all. If the parliament 
may lawfully deprive New-York of any of 
its rights, it may deprive any, or all the o- 
ther colonies of their rights ; and nothing 
can poflibly fo much encourage fuch at- 
tempts, as a mutual inattention to the in- 



L ETTER I . ii 

tereft of each other. To divide, and thus to 
dejiroy, is the firft political maxim in attack- 
ing thofe who are powerful by their union. 
He certainly is not a wife man, who folds his 
arms and repofeth himself at home, feeing 
with unconcern the flames that have invaded 
his neighbour's houfe, without any endea- 
vours to extinguish them. When Mr. Hamp- 
den s lhip-money caufe, for three (hillings 
and four-pence, was tried, all the people of 
England, with anxious expectation, intereft- 
ed themfelves in the important decifion ; and 
when the flighteft point touching the free- 
dom of a fingle colony is agitated, I earnest- 
ly wilh, that all the reft may with equal ar- 
dour fupport their lifter. Very much may 
be laid on this fubjecl, but I hope, more at 
prefent is unneceflary. 

With concern I have obferved that two 
aflemblies of this province have fat and ad- 
journed, without taking any notice of this 
ad:. It may perhaps be alked, what would 
have been proper for them to do ? I am by 
no means fond of inflammatory meafures. I 

deteft them. 1 lhould be forry that any 

thing lhould be done which might juftly dif- 
pleafe our fovereign or our mother-country. 
But a firm, modeft exertion of a free fpirit, 
lhould never be wanting on public occafions. 
It appears to me, that it would have been 
fufficient for the affembly, to have ordered 
our agents to reprefent to the King's mini- 
fters, their fenfe of the fufpending act, and 

B 2 



12 LETTER I . 

to pray for its repeal. Thus we mould have 
borne our teftimony againft it; and might 
therefore reafonably expect that on a like 
occafion, we might receive the fame affift- 
ance from the other colonies. 

" Concordia res parvce crefcunt. 
Small things grow great by concord. — 

A FARMER. 



LETTER II. 



Beloved Countrymen, 

THERE is another late act of parlia- 
ment, which feems to me to be as 
destructive to the liberty of thefe colonies, 
as that inferted in my lafl letter ; that is, 
the act. for granting the duties on paper, 
glafs, &c. It appears to me to be uncon- 
stitutional. 

The parliament unquestionably porTerTes a 
legal authority to regulate the trade of 
Great-Britain, and all its colonies. Such 
an authority is elfential to the relation be- 
tween a mother country and its colonies ; 
and necelfary for the common good of all. 
He, who coniiders thefe provinces as Mates 
diftindt from the Britifli Empire, has very 
(lender notions of juftice or of their interejls. 
We are but parts of a whole; and there- 
fore there muft exift a power fomewhere, to 
prefide, and preferve the connection in due 
order. This power is lodged in the parlia- 
ment; and we are as much dependant on 
Great-Britain, as a perfectly free people can 
be on another. 

I have looked over every Jlatute relating 
to thefe colonies, from their firft fettlement 



i 4 LETTER II. 

to this time ; and I find every one of them 
founded on this principle, till the Stamp- 
act administration*. All before are cal- 
culated to preferve or promote a mu- 
tually beneficial intercourfe between the 
feveral constituent parts of the empire ; 

(a) For the Satisfaction of the reader, recitals from 
former aits of parliament relating to thefe colonies 
are added. By comparing thefe with the modern acts, 
he will perceive their great difference in expreffion 
and intention. 

The 1 2th Cha. II Chap. 18, which forms the founda- 
tion of the laws relating to our trade, by enacting that 
certain productions of the colonies fhall be carried to 
England only, and that no goods fhall be imported from 
the plantations but in fhips belonging to England, Ire- 
land, Wales, Berwick, or the Plantations, &c. begins 
thus : " For the increafe of fhipping, and encourage- 
ment of the navigation of this nation, wherein, under 
the good providence and protection of God, the wealth, 
fafety, and ftrength of this kingdom is fo much 
concerned," &c. 

The 15th Cha. II. Chap. 7. enforcing the fame regu- 
lation, afligns thefe reafons for it. " In regard to his 
Majefty's plantations, beyond the feas, are inhabited and 
peopled by his fubjects of this his kingdom of England ; 
for the maintaining a greater correfpondence and kind- 
nefs between them, and keeping them in a firmer de- 
pendence upon it, and rendering them yet more bene- 
ficial and advantageous unto it, in the further employ- 
ment and increafe of English fhipping and feamen, vent 
of Englifh woolen, and other manufactures and com- 
modities, rendering the navigation to and from the 
fame more fafe and cheap, and making this kingdom a 
ftaple, not only of the commodities of thofe planta- 
tions, but alfo of the commodities of other countries 
and places for the fupplying of them ; and it being the 
ufage of other nations to keep their plantations trade 
to themselves," &c. 

The 25th Cha. II. Chap. 7, made exprefsly " for the 
better fecuring the plantation trade," which impofes 



LETTER II. 15 

and though many of them impofed du- 
ties on trade, yet thofe duties were always 
impofed with dejign to reftrain the com- 
merce of one part, that was injurious to ano- 
ther, and thus to promote the general wel- 
fare. The railing a revenue thereby was 

duties on certain commodities exported from one colo- 
ny to another, mentions this laft for impofing them : 
" Whereas by one a£t palled in the 12th year of your 
Majefty's reign, intitled, an a£t for encouragement of 
(hipping and navigation, and by feveral other laws, paf- 
fed fince that time, it is permitted to fhip, &c. fugars, 
tobacco, &c. of the growth, &c. of any of your Maje- 
fty's plantations in America &c. from the places of 
their growth, &c. to any other of your Majefty's plan- 
tations in thofe parts, &c. and that without paying of 
cuftom for the fame, either at the lading or unlading 
the faid commodities, by means whereof the trade 
and navigation in thofe commodities from one planta- 
tion to another is greatly encreafed, and the inhabi- 
tants of divers of thofe colonies, not contenting them- 
felves with being fupplied with thofe commodities for 
their own ufe, free from all cuftoms (while the fubjects of 
this your kingdom of England have paid great cuftoms 
and impofitions for what of them hath been fpent here) 
but, contrary to the exprefs letter of the aforesaid laws, 
have brought into diverfe parts of Europe great quan- 
tities thereof, and do alio vend great quantities thereof 
to the (hipping of other nations, who bring them into 
divers parts of Europe, to the great hurt and diminuti- 
on of your Majefty's cuftoms, and of the trade and na- 
vigation of this your kingdom ; for the prevention 
thereof, &c. 

The 7th and 8th Will. III. Chap. 21, intitled, "An 
adt for preventing frauds, and regulating abufes in 
the plantation trade," recites that, " notwithstanding 
diverfe a£ts, &c. great abufes are daily committed, to 
the prejudice of the English navigation, and the lofs of 
a great part of the plantation trade to this kingdom, by 
the artifice and cunning of ill difpofed perfons : for re- 
medy whereof, &c. And whereas in fome of his Majef- 



16 LETTER II. 

never intended. Thus, the king by his judges 
in his courts of juftice, impofes fines, which 
all together amount to a confiderable fum, 
and contribute to the fupport of govern- 
ment : but this is merely a confequence a- 
riiing from reftriclions, which only meant to 

ty's American plantations, a doubt or mifconftrudtion 
has arifen upon the before mentioned adts, made in the 
25th year of the reign of Charles II. whereby cer- 
tain duties are laid upon the commodities therein enu- 
merated (which by law may be tranfported from one 
plantation to another, for the fupplying of each others 
wants) as if the fame were, by the payment of thole 
duties in one plantation, difcharged from giving the fe- 
curities intended by the aforesaid adts, made in the 1 2th 
22d and 23d years of the reign of King Charles II. and 
confequently be at liberty to go to any foreign market 
in Europe," &c. 

The 6th Anne, Chap. 37, reciting the advancement of 
trade, &c. and encouragement of fhips of war, &c. grants 
to the captors the property of all prizes carried into A- 
merica, fubjedt to fuch cuftoms and duties, &c. as if the 
fame had been firft imported into any part of Great- 
Britain, and from thence exported, &c. 

This was a gift to perfons ailing under commiffions 
from the crown, and therefore it was reafonable that the 

terms prefcribed fhould be complied with more 

efpecially as the payment of fuch duties was intend- 
ed to give a preference to the productions of the Britifh 
colonies, over thofe of other colonies. However, being 
found inconvenient to the colonies, about four years af- 
terwards, this adt was, for that reafon, fo far repealed, 
by another adt " all prize goods, imported into a- 
" ny part of Great-Britain, from any of the plantations, 
" were liable to fuch duties only in Great-Britain, 
" as in cafe they had been of the growth and produce of 
" the plantations," &c. 

The 6th Geo. II. Chap. 13, which impofes duties on 
foreign rum, fugar and molafTes, imported into the co- 
lonies, fhews the reafon thus. — " Whereas the welfare 



LETTER II. 17 

keep peace, and prevent confufion ; and lure- 
ly a man would argue very loofely, who 
mould conclude from hence, that the King 
has a right to levy money in general upon 
his fubjedts; Never did the Briti/h parliament, 
till the period abovementioned, think of im- 
pofing duties in America for the pur- 
pose of raising A revenue. Mr. Green- 
ville's fagacity nrft introduced this language, 
in the preamble to the 4th of Geo. III. Ch. 
15, which has thefe words — "And whereas 
it is juft and neceifary that a revenue be 

RAISED IN YOUR MAJESTY'S SAID DOMIN- 
IONS in America, for defraying the ex- 
pences of defending, protecting and fecuring 
the fame: We your Majesty's moft dutiful 
and loyal fubjecls, the commons of 
Great Britain, in parliament alfembled, 

C 

and profperity of your Majefty's fugar colonies in Ame- 
rica, are of the greateft confequence and importance to 
the trade, navigation and ftrength of this kingdom ; 
and whereas the planters of the faid fugar colonies, have 
of late years fallen under fuch great difcouragements 
that they are unable to improve or carry on the fugar 
trade, upon an equal footing with the foreign fugar 
colonies, without fome advantage and relief be given to 
them from Great-Britain : For remedy whereof, and 
for the good and welfare of your Majefty's fubjedls," &c. 
The 29th Geo. II. Chap. 26. and the ift Geo.III.Chap. 
9, which contains 6th Geo. II. Chap. 13, declare, 
that the faid aft hath, by experience, been found ufeful 
and beneficial, &c. Thefe are all the moft considerable 
ftatutes relating to the commerce of the colonies ; and 
it is thought to be utterly unneceftary to add any obfer- 
vations to thefe extracts, to prove that they were all in- 
tended folely as regulations of trade. 



18 LETTER II. 

being defirous to make fome provifion in 
the prefent feifion of parliament, towards 
raifing the faid revenue in America, have 
refolved to give and grant unto your Ma- 
jefty the feveral rates and duties herein after 
mentioned," &c. 

A few months after came the Stamp-act, 
which reciting this, proceeds in the fame 
ftrange mode of expreffion, thus — " And 
whereas it is juft and neceffary, that pro- 
vifion be made for raising a further reve- 
nue WITHIN YOUR MAJESTY'S DOMINIONS IN AME- 
RICA, towards defraying the faid expences, 
we your Majefry's most dutiful and loyal fub- 
je£ts,the Commons of Great-Britain, 
&c. give and grant," &c. as before. 

The laft act, granting duties upon paper, 
&c. carefully purfues theie modern prece- 
dents. The preamble is, " Whereas it is 
expedient that a revenue ihould be railed in 
your Majefry's dominions in America, for 
making a more certain and adequate pro- 
vifion for the defraying the charge of the 
administration of juftice, and the fupport of 
civil government in fuch provinces, where 
it mail be found neceifary ; and towards 
the further defraying the expences of de- 
fending, protecting and fecuring the faid do- 
minions, we your Majefry's mofl dutiful and 
loyal fubjects, the Commons of Great 
Britain, &c. give and grant," &c.asbefore. 

Here we may obferve an authority expresjly 
claimed to impofe duties on thefe colonies ; 



LETTER II. 19 

not for the regulation of trade ; not for 
the prefervation or promotion of a mutually 
beneiicial intercourfe between the feveral 
confKtuent parts of the empire, heretofore 
the J ole objeBs of parliamentary institutions ; 
but for the Jingle purpofe of levying money 
upon us. 

This I call an b innovation ; and a molt 
dangerous innovation. It may perhaps be 
objected, that Great-Britain has a right to 
lay what duties fhe pleafes upon her c ex- 
ports, and it makes no difference to us, 
whether they are paid here or there. 

To this I anfwer. Thefe colonies require 
many things for their ufe, which the laws 
of Great-Britain prohibit them from getting 
any where but from her. Such are paper 
and glafs. 

(V) It is worthy obfervation how quickly fubfidies, 
granted in forms ufual and accuftomable (tho' heavy) 
are borne ; fuch a power hath ufe and cuftom. On the 
other fide, what difcontentment and difturbances fub- 
fidies formed on new moulds do raife (fuch an inbred 
hatred novelty doth hatch) is evident by examples of 
former times. Lord Coke's 2d inftitute, p. 33. 

(c) Some people, whofe minds feem incapable of u- 
niting two ideas, think that Great-Britain has the fame 
right to impofe duties on the exports to thefe colo- 
nies, as on thofe to Spain and Portugal, &c. Such per- 
fons attend fo much to the idea of exportation, that they 
entirely drop that of the connection between the mother 
country and her colonies. If Great-Britain had always 
claimed, and exercifed an authority to compel Spain and 
Portugal to import manufactures from her only, the ca- 
fes would be parallel : But as fhe never pretended to 
fuch a right, they are at liberty to get them where they 
pleafe ; and if they chufe to take them from her, rather 
than from other nations, they voluntary confent to pay 
the duties impofed on them. 



2o LETTER II. 

That we may be legally bound to pay any 
general duties on thefe commodities, relative 
to the regulation of trade, is granted; but 
we being obliged by her laws to take them 
from Great Britain, any fpecial duties im- 
pofed on their exportation to us only, with 
intention to raife a revenue from us only, are 
as much taxes upon us, as thofe imposed by 
the Stamp-ail. 

What is the difference in fubjlance and 
right, whether the fame fum is railed upon 
us by the rates mentioned in the Stamp-a£t, 
on the ufe of the paper, or by thefe duties, on 
the importation of it. It is nothing but the 
edition of a former book, with a new title 
page. 

Suppofe the duties were made payable in 
Great-Britain ? 

It lignifies nothing to us, whether they 
are to be paid here or there. Had the 
Stamp-aB directed, that all the paper ihould 
be landed in Florida, and the duties paid 
there, before it was brought to the Britijh 
Colonies, would the acl have raifed lefs mo- 
ney upon us, or have been lefs deftruclive 
of our rights? By no means: For as we 
were under a neceflity of uling the paper, 
we Ihould have been under the neceffity of 
paying the duties. Thus, in the prefent 
cafe, a like necejjity will fubjecl: us, it this 
ad: continues in force, to the payment of the 
duties now impofed. 



LETTER II. 21 

Why was the Stamp-acl then fo pernicious 
to freedom ? It did not enact, that every 
man in the colonies jhould buy a certain 
quantity of paper — No : It only directed, 
that no inftrument of writing mould be 
valid in law, if not made on ftamp paper, 
&c. 

The makers of that act knew full well, 
that the confulions that would arife upon 
the difufe of writings would compel the 
colonies to ufe the ftamp paper, and 
therefore to pay the taxes impofed. For 
this reafon the Stamp-acl was faid to be a 

law THAT WOULD EXECUTE ITSELF. For the 

very fame reafon, the laft act of parliament, 
if it is granted to have any force here, will 
execute itfelf, and will be attended with the 
very fame confequences to American Liberty. 

Some perfons perhaps may fay, that this 
act lays us under no necefftty to pay the du- 
ties impofed, becaufe we may ourfelves ma- 
nufacture the articles on which they are 
laid : whereas by the Stamp-act no inftru- 
ment of writing could be good, unlefs made 
on Britifh paper, and that too ftampt. 

Such an objection amounts to no more 
than this, that the injury refulting to thefe 
colonies, from the total difufe of Britifh pa- 
per and glafs, will not he fo afflicting as that 
which would have refulted from the total 
difufe of writing among them ; for by that 
means even the ftamp-act might have been 
eluded. Why then was it univerfally detef- 



22 LETTER II. 

ted by them as flavery itself? Becaufe it 
prefented to thefe devoted provinces nothing 
but a choice of calamities, imbittered by 
indignities, each of which it was unworthy 
of freemen to bear. But is no injury a vi- 
olation of right but the greatejl injury ? If 
the eluding the payment of the duties im- 
pofed by the ftamp-act, would have fubject- 
ed us to a more dreadful inconvenience, than 
the eluding the payment of thofe impofed by 
the late act ; does it therefore follow, that 
the lalt is no violation of our rights, though 
it is calculated for the fame purpofe that the 
other was, that is, to raife money upon us, 

WITHOUT OUR CONSENT ? 

This would be making right to coniift, 
not in an exemption from injury, but from 
a certain degree of injury. 

But the objectors may further fay, that 
we (hall fuftain no injury at all by the difufe 
of Britifh paper and glafs. We might not, 
if we could make as much as we want. 
But can any man, acquainted with Ameri- 
ca, believe this poffible ? I am told there 
are but two or three glafs-houfes on this 
continent, and but very few paper-mills ; 
and fuppofe more fhould be erected, a long 
courfe of years muff elapfe, before they can 
be brought to perfection. This continent 
is a country of planters, farmers, and fim- 
ermen ; not of manufacturers. The diffi- 
culty of eftablifhing particular manufactures 
in fuch a country, is almoft infuperable, 



LETTER II. 23 

for one manufacture is connected with o- 
thers in fuch a manner, that it may be faid 
to be impoffible to eflablifh one or two, 
without eftablifhing feveral others. The 
experience of many nations may convince 
us of this truth. 

Inexpremble therefore mull: be our di- 
ftreffes in evading the late a6ts, by the dif- 
ufe of Britifh paper and glafs. Nor will this 
be the extent of our misfortunes, if we ad- 
mit the legality of that act. 

Great-Britain has prohibited the manu- 
facturing iron and fteel in thefe colonies, 
without any objection being made to her 
right of doing it. The like right fhe murt 
have to prohibit any other manufacture a- 
mong us. Thus me is poffeffed of an undif- 
puted precedent on that point. This autho- 
rity, fhe will fay, is founded on the original 
intention of fettling thefe colonies ; that is, 
that fhe fhould manufacture for them, and 
that they fhould fupply her with materials. 
The equity of this policy, fhe will alfo fay, 
has been univerfally acknowledged by the 
colonies, who never have made the leaft ob- 
jection to fbatutes for that purpofe ; and will 
further appear by the mutual benefits flowing 
from this ufage, ever fince the fettlement of 
thefe colonies. 

Our great advocate, Mr. Pitt, in his 
fpeeches on the debate concerning the repeal 
of the Stamp-aff, acknowledged, that Great 
Britain could reftrain our manufactures. His 



24 LETTER II. 

words are thefe — " This kingdom, as the 
fupreme governing and legiflative power, 
has always bound the colonies by her regu- 
lations and reftri&ions in trade, in navigati- 
on, in manufactures in every thing, ex- 
cept that of taking their money out of their 

pockets, WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT." A- 

gain he fays, " We may bind their trade, 

CONFINE THEIR MANUFACTURES, and 

exercife every power whatever, except that 
of taking money out of their pockets, with- 
out THEIR CONSENT. 

Here then, let my countrymen, rouse 
yourfelves, and behold the ruin hanging o- 
ver their heads. If they ONCE admit, that 
Great-Britain may lay duties upon her ex- 
portations to us, for the purpofe of levying 
money on us only, (lie then will have nothing 
to do, but to lay thofe duties on the arti- 
cles which fhe prohibits us to manufacture — 
and the tragedy of American liberty is finifh- 
ed. We have been prohibited from procuring 
manufactures, in all cafes, any where but 
from Great-Britain, (excepting linens, which 
we are permitted to import directly from 
Ireland). We have been prohibited, in fome 
cafes, from manufacturing for ourfelves ; 
We are therefore exactly in the iituation of a 
city befieged, which is furrounded by the 
works of the befiegers in every part but one. 
If that is clofed up, no ftep can be taken, but 
to furrender at difcretion. If Great-Britain 
can order us to come to her for necelfaries we 



LETTER II. 25 

want, and can order us to pay what taxes 
fhe pleafes before we take them away, or 
when we have them here, we are as abject 
flaves, as France and Poland can fliew in 
wooden fhoes, and with uncombed hair. c 

Perhaps the nature of the neceffities of the 
dependant ftates, caufed by the policy of a 
governing one, for her own benefit, may 
be elucidated by a fact: mentioned in hiftory. 
When the Carthaginians were poflefled of 
the ifland of Sardinia, they made a decree, 
that the Sardinians mould not get corn, 
any other way than from the Carthaginians. 
Then, by impofing any duties they would, 
they drained from the miferable Sardini- 
ans any fums they pleafed ; and whenever 
that opprelfed people made the leafl move- 
ment to affert their liberty, their tyrants 
flarved them to death or fubmiffion. This 
may be called the mofl perfect kind of po- 
litical neceffity. 

From what has been faid, I think this un- 
controvertible conclusion may be deduced, 
that when a ruling flate obliges a dependant 
flate to take certain commodities from her 
alone, it is implied in the nature of that obli- 
gation ; and is elfentially requifite to give it 
the leafl degree of juflice; and is infeparably 

D 



(c) The peafants of France wear wooden {hoes ; and 
the vaffals of Poland are remarkable for matted hair, 
which never can be combed. 



26 LETTER II. 

united with it, in order to preferve any (hare 
of freedom to the dependant Mate ; that thofe 
commodities mould never be loaded with 
duties for the fole purpofe of levying money 
on the dependant ftate. 

The place of paying the duties impofed 
by the late adf, appears to me therefore to be 
totally immaterial. The fingle queftion is, 
whether the parliament can legally impofe 
duties to be paid by the people of thefe colo- 
nies only FOR THESOLEPURPOSEOF R A IS- 

ing a revenue,™ commodities which Jlie 
obliges us to take frotn her alone ; or, in o- 
ther words, whether the parliament can le- 
gally take money out of our pockets, without 
our confent. If they can, our boafted liber- 
ty is but 

Vox et prceterea nihil. 

A found, and nothing else. 

A FARMER. 



LETTER III. 

Beloved Countrymen, 

I REJOICE to find, that my two former 
letters to you, have been generally re- 
ceived with fo much favour by fuch of you 
whofe fentiments I have had an opportunity 
of knowing. Could you look into my heart, 
you would inftantly perceive an ardent affec- 
tion for your perfons, a zealous attachment 
to your interefts, a lively refentment of e- 
very infult and injury offered to your honour 
or -happinefs, and an inflexible refolution to 
affert your rights, to the utmoft of my 
weak power, to be the only motives that 
have engaged me to addrefs you. 

I am no further concerned in any thing 
affecting America, than any one of you, and 
when liberty leaves it I can quit it much 
more conveniently than mofl of you : but 
while divine providence, that gave me exif- 
tence in a land of freedom, permits my 
head to think, my lips to fpeak, and my 
hand to move, I fhall fo highly and grate- 
fully value the blerfing received, as to take 
care that my filence and inactivity fhall not 
give my implied affent to any acl: degrading 
my brethren and myfelf from the birthright 

D 2 



28 LETTER III. 

wherewith heaven itself " hath made us 
freer' 

Sorry I am to learn, that there are fome 
few perfons, make their heads with folemn 
motion, and pretend to wonder what can 
be the meaning of thefe letters. " Great- 
Britain, they fay, is too powerful to con- 
tend with"; (he is determined to opprefs us ; 
it is in vain to fpeak of right on one fide, 
when there is power on the other ; when we 
are flrong enough to refift, we mall attempt 
it; but now we are not flrong enough, and 
therefore we had better be quiet; it ligni- 
lies nothing to convince us that our rights 
are invaded, when we cannot defend them, 
and if we mould get into riots and tumults 
about the late act, it will only draw down 
heavier difpleafure upon us." 

What can fuch men defign? What do 
their grave obfervations amount to, but this 
— " that thefe colonies, totally regardlefs 
of their liberties, mould commit them, 
with humble reiignation, to chance, time, 
and the tender mercies of minijlers." 

Are thefe men ignorant, that ufurpations, 
which might have been fuccefsfully oppofed 
at firft, acquire ftrength by continuance, 
and thus become irrefiftible ? Do they con- 
demn the conduct of thefe colonies, concern- 
ing the Stamp-acl f Or have they forgot its 
fuccefsful iiTue ? Ought the colonies at that 

(a) Gal. v. I. 



LETTER III. 29 

time, inftead of ailing as they did, to have 
trufted for relief, to the fortuitous events of 
futurity ? If it is needlefs " to fpeak of 
rights" now, it was as needlefs then. If the 
behaviour of the colonies was prudent and 
glorious then, and fuccefsful too; it will be 
equally prudent and glorious to aci in the 
fame manner now, if our rights are equal- 
ly invaded, and may be as fuccefsful. 
Therefore it becomes neceffary to enquire, 
whether " our rights are invaded." To 
talk of " defending " them, as if they could 
be no otherwife "defended" than by arms, 
is as much out of the way, as if a man 
having a choice of feveral roads to reach his 
journey's end, fhould prefer the worft, for 
no other reafon, than becaufe it is the worft. 

As to "riots and tumults," the gentle- 
men who are fo apprehenfive of them, are 
much miftaken, if they think, that grievan- 
ces cannot be redrefled without fuch aftift- 
ance. 

I will now tell the gentlemen, what is 
" the meaning of thefe letters." The mean- 
ing of them is, to convince the people of 
thefe colonies, that they are at this moment 
expofed to the molt imminent dangers; and 
jto perfuade them immediately, vigouroufly, 
and unanimoufly, to exert themfelves, in 
the mod firm, but moft peaceable manner 
for obtaining relief. 

The caufe of liberty is a caufe of too 
much dignity, to be fullied by turbulence 



I 



30 LETTER III. 

and tumult. It ought to be maintained in a 
manner fuitable to her nature. Thofe who 
engage in it, mould breathe a fedate, yet 
fervent lpirit, animating them to actions 
of prudence, juftice, modefty, bravery, hu- 
manity, and magnanimity. 

To fuch a wonderful degree were the an- 
tient Spartans, as brave and as free a people 
as ever exifted, infpired by this happy tem- 
perature of foul, that rejecting even in their 
battles the ufe of trumpets, and other instru- 
ments for exciting heat and rage, they march- 
ed up to fcenes of havock and horror, with 
the found of flutes, to the tunes of which 
their fteps kept pace — " exhibiting, as Plu- 
' tarch fays, at once a terrible and delightful 
' fight, and proceeding with a deliberate 
' valour, full of hope and good aflurance, 
' as if fome divinity had infenfibly aflifted 
' them." 

I hope, my dear countrymen, that you 
will in every colony be upon your guard a- 
gainft thofe who may at any time endeavour 
to ftir you up, under pretences of patriotifm, 
to any meafures difrefpectful to our fovereign 
and our mother country. Hot, rafli, difor- 
derly proceedings, injure the reputation of a 
people as to wifdom, valour and virtue, 
without procuring them the leaft benefit. I 
pray God, that he may be pleafed to infpire 
you and your pofterity to the latefi: ages 
with that fpirit, of which I have an idea, but 
find a difficulty to exprefs : to exprefs in 



LETTER III. 31 

the beft manner I can, I mean a fpirit that 
fhall fo guide you, that it will be impoflible 
to determine, whether an American's cha- 
racter is moft diftinguifhable for his loyalty 
to his fovereign, his duty to his mother coun- 
try, his love of freedom, or his affection for 
his native foil. 

Every government, at fome time or other, 
falls into wrong meafures ; thefe may pro- 
ceed from miftake or pamon. But every 

fuch meafure does not diifolve the obligati- 
on between the governors and the governed ; 
the miftake may be corrected ; the palTion 
may pafs over. 

It is the duty of the governed, to endea- 
vour to rectify the miftake, and appeafe the 
paffion. They have not at firft any other 
right, than to reprefent their grievances, and 
to pray for redrefs, unlefs an emergency is 
fo preffing, as not to allow time for receiv- 
ing an anfwer to their applications which 
rarely happens. If their applications are dis- 
regarded, then that kind of oppolition be- 
comes juftifiable, which can be made with- 
out breaking the laws, or difturbing the pub- 
lic peace. This confifts in the prevention of 
the oppreifors reaping advantage from their 
oppreffions, and not in their punilhment. For 
experience may teach them what reafon did 
not ; and harfh methods, cannot be proper, 
till milder ones have failed. 

If at length it becomes undoubted, that 
an inveterate refolution is formed to annihi- 



32 LETTER III. 

late the liberties of the governed, the Englifh 
hiftory affords frequent examples of refiftance 
by force. What particular circumftances will 
in any future cafe juftify fuch refiftance, can 
never be afcertained till they happen. Per- 
haps it may be allowable to fay, generally, 
that it never can be juftifiable, until the peo- 
ple are fully convinced, that any fur- 
ther fubmiflion will be deftrudtive to their 
happinefs. 

When the appeal is made to the fword, 
highly probable it is, that the punifliment 
will exceed the offence ; and the calamities 
attending on war out weigh thole preceding 
it. Thefe confiderations of juftice and pru- 
dence, will always have great influence with 
good and wife men. 

To thefe reflections on this fubject , it re- 
mains to be added, and ought for ever to be 
remembred ; that refiftance in the cafe of 
colonies againft their mother country, is ex- 
tremely different from the refiftance of a 
people againft their prince. A nation may 
change their King or race of Kings, and re- 
tain their antient form of government, be 
gainers by changing. Thus Great-Britain, 
under the illuftrious houfe of Brunfwick, a 
houfe that feems to flourifh for the happinefs 
of mankind, has found a felicity, unknown 
in the reigns of the Stuarts. But if once we 
are feparated from our mother country, what 
new form of government (hall we accept, or 
when ftiall we find another Britain to fupply 



I 



LETTER III. 33 

our lofs ? Torn from the body to which we 
are united by religion, liberty, laws, affecti- 
ons, relations, language, and commerce, we 
muft bleed at every vein. 

In truth, the profperity of thefe provinces 
is founded in their dependance on Great- 
Britain ; and when flie returns to " her old 
" good humour, and old good nature," as 
Lord Clerendon expreffes it, I hope they 
will always efteem it their duty and intereft, 
as it moft certainly will be, to promote her 
welfare by all the means in their power. 

We cannot a£t with too much caution 
in our difputes. Anger produces anger; 
and differences that might be accommodated 
by kind and refpeclful behaviour, may by 
imprudence be changed to an incurable rage. 

In quarrels between countries, as well as 
in thofe between individuals, when they have 
rifen to a certain heighth, the firft cause of 
diffention is no longer remembred, the minds 
of the parties being wholly engaged in re- 
collecting and refenting the mutual expref- 
fions of their dillike. When feuds have 
reached that fatal point, all considerations 
of reafon and equity vanifti ; and a blind 
fury governs, or rather confounds all things. 
A people no longer regards their intereft, 
but the gratification of their wrath. The 
fway of the Cleon's, b and Clodius's, the de- 

E 

(b\ Cleon was a popular firebrand of Athens and 
Clodius of Rome ; each of them plunged his country 
into the deepeft calamities. 




34 LETTER III. 

figning and deteftable flatters of the prevail- 
ing paflion, becomes confirmed. 

Wife and good men in vain oppofe the 
florm, and may think themfelves fortunate, 
if, endeavouring to preferve their ungrateful 
fellow citizens, they do not ruin themfelves. 
Their prudence will be called bafenefs ; their 
moderation, guilt ; and if their virtue does 
not lead them to deftruclion, as that of 
many other great and excellent perfons has 
done, they may furvive, to receive from their 
expiring country, the mournful glory of her 
acknowledgment, that their councils, if re- 
garded, would have faved her. 

The constitutional modes of obtaining re- 
lief, are thofe which I would wifli to fee 
purfued on the prefent occafion, that is, by 
petitioning of our alfemblies, or, where they 
are not permitted to meet, of the people 
to the powers that can afford us relief. 

We have an excellent prince, in whofe 
good difpoiitions towards us we may confide. 
We have a generous, fenlible, and humane 
nation, to whom we may apply. They 
may be deceived : they may, by artful men, 
be provoked to anger againfi; us ; but I can- 
not yet believe they will be cruel or unjuft; 
or that their anger will be implacable. Let 
us behave like dutiful children, who have 
received unmerited ws from a beloved 
parent. Let us c r ain to our parents ; 
but let our complaints fpeak at the fame 



LETTER III. 35 

time, the language of affliction and venera- 
tion. 

If, however, it (hall happen by an unfortu- 
nate courfe of affairs, that our applications 
to his Majefty and the parliament for the 
redrefs, prove ineffectual, let us then take 
another flep, by withholding from Great- 
Britain, all the advantages fhe has been ufed 
to receive from us. Then let us try, if our 
ingenuity, induftry, and frugality, will not 
give weight to our remonftrances. Let us 
all be united with one fpirit in one caufe. 
Let us invent ; let us work ; let us fave ; let 
us at the fame time, keep up our claims, and 
uncealingly repeat our complaints ; but 
above all, let us implore the protection of 
that infinite good and gracious Being, "by 
"whom kings reign and princes decree 
"juftice." 

" Nil defperandum." 

Nothing is to be defpaired of. 

A FARMER. 



E 2 



LETTER IV. 

Beloved Countrymen, 

AN objection, I hear, has been made 
againft what I offer in my fecond let- 
ter, which I would willingly clear up before 
I proceed. " There is," fay thefe objec- 
tors "a material difference between the 
" Stamp-acT: and the late acl: for laying a 
" duty on paper, &c. that juftifies the con- 
" duel of thofe who oppofed the former, 
" and yet are willing to fubmit to the lat- 
" ter. The duties impofed by the Stamp- 
" act, were internal taxes, but the prefent 
" are external, which therefore the parlia- 

" ment may have a right to impofe." 

To this I anfwer, with a total denial of the 
power of parliament to lay upon thefe colo- 
nies any tax whatever. 

This point being fo important to this and 
to all fucceeding generations, I wifh to be 
clearly underftood. 

To the word " Tax," I annex that 
meaning which the constitution and hiftory 
of England require to be annexed to it ; 
that it is, an impoiition on the fubject for 
the fole purpofe of levying money. 

In the early ages of our monarchy, the 
fervices rendered to the crown, for the 



38 LETTER I V . 

general good, were perfonal ; a but in pro- 
grefs of time, fuch institutions being found 
inconvenient, certain gifts and grants of 
their own property were made by the peo- 
ple, under the feveral names of aids, tal- 
lages, talks, taxes, fublidies, &c. Thefe 
were made as may be collected even from 
the names for public fervice, " upon need 
and neceffity," b all thefe fums were levied 
upon the people by virtue of their voluntary 
gift. c The deiign of them was to fupport 

(<?) It is very worthy of remark, how watchful our 
wife anceftors were, leaft thefe fervices fhould be extend- 
ed beyond the limits of the law. No man was bound to 
go out of the realm to ferve, and therefore even in the 
conquering reign of Henry V. when the martial fpirit 
of the nation was inflamed by fuccefs to a great degree, 
they ftill carefully guarded againft the eftabliftiment of 
illegal fervices. Lord Chief Juftice Coke's words are 
thefe, " When this point concerning maintainance of 
wars out of England came in queftion, the Commons did 
make their continual claim of their antient freedom and 
birth-right, as in the firft of Henry V. and 7th of Hen- 
ry V. &c. the Commons made proteft that they were 
not bound to the maintainance of war in Scotland, Ire- 
land, Calais, France, Normandy, or other foreign parts, 
and caufed their protefts to be entered into the parlia- 
ment roll, where they yet remain ; which, in efFedt, a- 
greeth with that, which upon the like occafion was made 
in the parliament of 25. E. 1." 2d Inft. p. 528. 

(b) 4. Inft. p. 28. 

(c\ Rege Anglla nihiltale, ntft convocath primis ordinibus 
et ajfentiente populo, fufcipiunt. Phil. Comines. 

Thefe gifts entirely depending on the pleafure of the 
donors, were proportioned to the abilities of the feveral 
ranks of people, who gave, and were regulated by their 
opinion of the public neceflities. Thus Edward I. had 
in his nth year a thirteenth from the laity, a twentieth 
from the clergy ; in his 22d year, a tenth from the lai- 
ty, a fixth from London, and other corporate towns, 



LETTER IV. 39 

the national honour and intereft. Some of 

thofe grants comprehended duties ariiing 

from trade, being imports on merchandizes. 

Thefe Chief Juftice Coke claftes "under 

" fublides " d and "parliamentary aids." 

They are alfo called " cuftoras." But 

whatever the name was, they were always 

conlidered as gifts of the people to the 

crown, to be employed for public ufes. 

Commerce was at a low ebb, and mod 

furprifing inftances may be produced, how 

little it was attended to, for a fucceffion of 

ages. The terms that have been mentioned, 

and among the reft that of " tax," had 

half of their benefices from the clergy ; in his 23d year, 
an eleventh from the barons and others, a tenth from 
the clergy, and a feventh from the burgefles, &c. 

Hume's Hiftory of England. 

The fame difference in the grants of the feveral ranks, 
is obfervable in other reigns. In the famous ftatute 
de tallagio non eoncedendo, the King enumerates the fe- 
veral claffes, without whofe confent he and his heirs 
ftiould never fet or levy any tax. " Nullum tallagium 
" vel auxilium, per nos, vel haredes no/lros, in regno nojlro 
" ponatur feu levetur, fine voluntare et ajfenfu archiepifcopo- 
" rum, epifcoporum, comitum, baronum, militum, burgenfi- 
" um, et aliorum liberorum de regno nojlro." 34 E. I. 

Lord Chief Juftice Coke in his comment on thefe 
words, fays, " for the quieting of the Commons, and for 
a perpetual and conftant law for ever after, both in this 
and other like cafes, this ac~t was made." " Thefe words 
are plain without fcruple ; abfolute without any fav- 
ing." 2 Coke's Inft. p. 522, 523. 

Little did the venerable judge imagine, that " other 
" like cafes" would happen, in which the fpirit of this 
law would be defpifed by Engliihmen, the pofterity of 
thofe who made it. 

(d) 4. Inft. p. 28. 



4 o LETTER IV. 

obtained a national, parliamentary meaning, 
drawn from the principles of the constitu- 
tion, long before any Englishmen thought 
of regulations of trade " by impofing 
duties." 

Whenever we fpeak of taxes among 
Englifhmen, let us therefore fpeak. of them 
with reference to the intentions with which, 
and the principles on which they have been 
eftabliftied. This will give certainty to our 
expreflion, and fafety to our condudl : but 
if when we have in view the liberty of 
thefe colonies, and the influence of " taxes " 
laid without our confent, we proceed in any 
other courfe, we purfue a Juno e indeed, 
but mall only catch a cloud. 

In the national parliamentary fenfe in- 
lifted on, the word " tax " f was certainly 
underftood by the congrefs at New-York, 
whofe refolves may be faid to form the Ame- 
rican " bill of rights." I am fatisfied that 
the congrefs was of opinion, that no impo- 
litions could be legally laid on the people of 
thefe colonies for the purpofe of levying 
money, but by themfelves or their reprefen- 
tatives. 

The third, fourth, fifth, and iixth refolves 
are thus exprefled. 

(*) The goddefs of empire, in the heathen mytholo- 
gy. According to an ancient fable, Ixion purfued her, 
but (he efcaped by a cloud which (he threw in his way. 

(J) In this fenfe Montefquieu ufes the word " tax", 
in his 13th book of Spirit of Laws. 



LETTER IV. 41 

III. "That it is infeparably eSfential to 
the freedom of a people and the undoubted 
right of Englishmen, that no tax be impofed 
on them, but with their own confent, given 
perfonally or by their reprefentatives." 

IV. " That the people of the colonies 
are not, and from their local circumStances 
cannot be reprefented in the Houfe of Com- 
mons, in Great-Britain." 

V. " That the only reprefentatives of the 
people of the colonies, are the perfons cho- 
fen therein by themfelves ; and that no 
taxes ever have been, or can be conStitution- 
ally impofed on them, but by their refpe&ive 
legiilatures." 

VI. " That all fupplies to the crown 
being free gifts of the people, it is unrea- 
sonable and inconiiftent with the principles 
and fpirit of the BritiSh constitution, for the 
people of Great-Britain to grant to his Ma- 
jeSty the property of the colonies." 

Here is no distinction made, between in- 
ternal and external taxes. It is evident 
from the Short reafoning thrown into thefe 
refolves that every imposition "to grant to 
" his MajeSty the property of the colonies," 
was thought a "tax;" and that every 
fuch impofition if laid any other way " but 
with their confent, given perfonally, or by 
their reprefentatives;" was not only " un- 
" reafonable, and inconfiStent with the prin- 
" ciples and fpirit of the BritiSh conStitu- 

F 



42 LETTER IV. 

" tion," but deftruclive " to the freedom 
" of a people." 

This language is clear and important. A 
" tax " means an impofition to raife money. 
Such perfons therefore as fpeak of internal 
and external " taxes," I pray may pardon 
me, if I objed: to that expreffion as applied to 
the privileges and interefts of thefe colonies. 
There may be external and internal impofiti- 
ons, founded on different principles, and hav- 
ing different tendencies ; every " tax " be- 
ing an impofition, tho' every impofition is 
not a "tax." But all "taxes" are found- 
ed on the fame principle, and have the fame 
tendency. 

" External impofitions for the regulation 
of our trade, do not grant to his Majefty 
the property of the colonies." They only 
prevent the colonies acquiring property in 
things not neceffary, and in a manner judged 
to be injurious to the welfare of the whole 
empire. But the lafl ftatute refpecling us, 
" grants to his Majefty the property of thefe 
" colonies," by laying duties on manufac- 
tures of Great-Britain, which they muft 
take, and which he fettled them, in order 
that they fhould take. 

What g "tax" can be more "internal" 
than this ? Here is money drawn without 

(g) It feems to be evident, that Mr. Pitt, in his defence 
of America, during the debate concerning the repeal of 
the Stamp-act, by " internal taxes" meant any duties 
'■'■for the purpofe of raiftng a revenue; " and by " external 



LETTER IV. 43 

their confent from a fociety, who have con- 
stantly enjoyed a constitutional mode of raid- 
ing all money among themfelves. The 
payment of this tax they have no poffible 
method of avoiding, as they cannot do with- 
out the commodities on which it is laid, and 

" taxes" meant u duties impofed for the regulation of trade." 
His expreflions are thefe. — " If the gentleman does not 
underftand the difference between internal and external 
taxes, I cannot help it ; but there is a plain diftindlion 
between taxes levied for the purpofes of raifing a reve- 
nue, and duties impofed for the regulation of trade, for 
the accommodation of the fubjecl ; altho' in the confe- 
quences, fome revenue might incidentally arife from 
the latter." 

Thefe words were in Mr. Pitt's reply to Mr. Grenville, 
who faid he could not underftand the difference between 
external and internal taxes. But Mr. Pitt in his firft 
fpeech, had made no fuch diftinction ; and his meaning, 
when he mentions the diftin<5tion, appears to be — that 
by " external taxes" he intended impofitions, for the 
purpofe of regulating the intercourfe of the colonies 
with others ; and by " internal taxes" he intended im- 
pofitions, for the purpofe of taking money from them. 

In every other part of his fpeeches on that occafion, 
his words confirm this conftrudtion of his expreflions. 
The following extracts will ftiew how pofitive and gene- 
ral were his affertions of our right. 

" it is my opinion that this kingdom has no 
right to lay a tax upon the colonies." "the 
Americans are the sons not the bastards of 
England. Taxation is no part of the Govern- 
ing or legislative power." "The taxes are a vo- 
luntary gift and grant of the Commons alone. In le- 
giflation the three eftates of the realm are alike concern- 
ed, but the concurrence of the peers and the crown to a 
tax, is only neceffary to clofe with the form of a law. 
The gift and grant is of the Commons alone." " The 
diftindtion between legiflation and taxation is effentially 
neceffary to liberty." " The Commons of America repre- 
fented in their fever al affemblies have ever been in poffeffion of 
the exercife of this, their conftitutional right, of giving and 



44 LETTER IV. 

they cannot manufacture thefe commodities 
themfelves ; beiides, if this unhappy country 
fhould be fo lucky as to elude this acl, by 
getting parchment enough to ufe in the 
place of paper, or reviving the antient 
method of writing on wax and bark, and 
by inventing fomething to ferve inftead of 
glafs, her ingenuity would ftand her in little 
ftead ; for then the parliament would have 
nothing to do, but to prohibit manufac- 
tures, or to lay a tax on hats and woollen 
cloths, which they have already prohibited 
the colonies from fupplying each other with ; 
or on inftruments and tools of fteel and iron, 
which they have prohibited the provincials 

granting their oivn money. They would have been Jlaves, if 
they had not enjoyed it." " The idea of a virtual repre- 
fentation of America in this houfe, is the moft contemp- 
tible idea that ever entered into the head of man. It 
does not deferve a ferious refutation." 

He afterwards fhews the unreafonablenefs of Great- 
Britain taxing America, thus — " When I had the ho- 
nour of ferving his Majefty, I availed myfelf of the 
means of information, which I derived from my office : 
I fpeak therefore from knowledge. My materials were 
good, I was at pains to collect, to digeft, to confider 
them : and I will be bold to affirm that the profit to Great- 
Britain from the trade of the colonies, thro' all its branches, 
is two millions a year. This is the fund that carried you tri- 
umphantly thro' the lajl war. The eftates that were rent- 
ed at two thoufand pounds a year, threefcore years ago, 
are at three thoufand pounds at prefent. Thofe eftates fold 
then from fifteen to eighteen years purchafe ; the fame 
may now be fold for thirty. YOU OWE THIS TO A- 
MERICA. THIS IS THE PRICE THAT AMERICA 
PAYS YOU FOR HER PROTECTION,"—" I dare 
not fay how much higher thefe profits may be augment- 
ed." — " Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the 



LETTER IV. 45 

from manufacturing at all h And then 
what little gold and lilver they have, muft 
be torn from their hands, or they will not 
be able in a fhort time, to get an ax ' for 
cutting their firewood, nor a plough for 
raifing their food. — In what refped: there- 
fore, I beg leave to afk, is the late act pre- 
ferable to the Stamp-ait, or more confident 
with the liberties of the colonies ? " I re- 
" gard them both with equal apprehenfion, 
" and think they ought to be in the fame 
" manner opposed." 

" Habemus quidem fenatus confultum — 

tanquam gladium in vagina repofitum 
We have a ftatute like a fword in the 

fcabbard. 

A FARMER. 

houfe what is really my opinion : it is, that the 

STAMP-ACT BE REPEALED ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY, 

and immediately. That the reafon for the repeal be 
affigned, becaufe it was founded on an erroneous prin- 
ciple." 

(h) " And that pig and bar iron made in his Maje- 
fty's colonies in America may be further manufactured 
in this kingdom, be it further enadled by the authority 
aforefaid, that from and after the twenty-fourth day of 
June, 1750, no mill or other engine for flitting or roll- 
ing of iron, or any plaiting forge to work with a tilt 
hammer, or any furnace for making fteel, fhall be e- 
refted, or after fuch erection continued, in any of his 
Majefty's colonies in America." 

3 Geo. II. chap. 29. fe£t. 9. 

(i\ Though thefe particulars are mentioned as being 
fo abfolutely neceflary, yet perhaps they are not more fo 
than glafs, in our fevere winters, to keep out the cold, 
from our houfes ; or than paper, without which fuch 
inexpreflible confufion muft enfue. 



LETTER V . 

Beloved Countrymen, 

PE R H A P S the objection to the late act, 
impofing duties upon paper, &c. might 
have been fafely refted on the arguments 
drawn from the univerfal conducl of parlia- 
ments and ministers, from the firft existence 
of thefe colonies, to the administration of 
Mr. Grenville. 

What but the indifputable, the acknow- 
ledged excluiive right of the colonies to tax 
themfelves, could be the reafon, that in this 
long period of more than one hundred and 
fifty years, no ftatute was ever palled for the 
fole purpofe of railing a revenue on the co- 
lonies ? And how clear, how cogent mult 
that reafon be, to which every parliament 
and every minifter, for fo long a time fub- 
mitted, without a fingle attempt to innovate ? 

England in part of that courfe of years, 
and Great Britain, in other parts, was en- 
gaged in fierce and expenlive wars ; troubled 
withfome tumultuous and bold parliaments ; 
governed by many daring and wicked mini- 
sters ; yet none of them ever ventured to 
touch the PALLADIUM of American 
Liberty. Ambition, avarice, fadlion, ty- 
ranny, all revered it. Whenever it was ne- 



4 8 LETTER V. 

ceffary to raife money on the colonies, the 
requisitions of the crown were made, and 
dutifully complied with. The parliament 
from time to time regulated their trade, and 
that of the reft of the empire, to preferve 
their dependencies, and the connection of 
the whole in good order. 

The people of Great-Britain in fupport of 
their privileges, boaft much of their antiqui- 
ty. Yet it may well be queftioned, if there 
is a lingle privilege of a Britifti fubjed:, fup- 
ported by longer, more folemn, or more un- 
interrupted teftimony, than the exclulive right 
of taxation in thefe colonies. The people of 
Great-Britain conlider that kingdom as the 
fovereign of thefe colonies, and would now 
annex to that fovereignty a prerogative ne- 
ver heard of before. How would they bear 
this, was the cafe their own ? What would 
they think of a new prerogative claimed by 
the crown ? We may guefs what their con- 
duct would be from the tranfports of paffi- 
on into which they fell about the late em- 
bargo, laid to remove the moft emergent ne- 
ceffities of ftate, admitting of no delay ; and 
for which there were numerous precedents. 
Let our liberties be treated with the fame 
tendernefs, and it is all we delire. 

Explicit as the conduct of parliaments, for 
fo many ages, is, to prove that no money 
can be levied on thefe colonies, by parlia- 
ment for the purpofe of raifing a revenue ; 
yet it is not the only evidence in our favour. 



LETTER V. 49 

Every one of the more material arguments 
againft the legality of the Stamp-act operates 
with equal force againlt the adt now object- 
ed to ; but as they are well known, it feems 
unneceifary to repeat them here. 

This general one only mall be considered 
at prefent. That tho' thefe colonies are de- 
pendant on Great-Britain ; and tho' (he has 
a legal power to make laws for preferving 
that dependance ; yet it is not neceifary for 
this purpofe, nor elfential to the relation be- 
tween a mother-country and her colonies, 
as was eagerly contended by the advocates 
for the Stamp-acl, that lhe mould raife mo- 
ney upon them without their confent. 

Colonies were formerly planted by war- 
like nations, to keep their enemies in awe ; 
to relieve their country overburthened with 
inhabitants ; or to difcharge a number of 
difcontented and troubleiome citizens. But 
in more modern ages, the fpirit of violence 
being in fome meafure, if the expreffion may 
be allowed, lheathed in commerce, colonies 
have been fettled by the nations of Europe 
for the purpofes of trade. Thefe purpofes 
were to be attained by the colonies railing 
for their mother country thofe things which 
lhe did not produce herfelf ; and by fupply- 
ing themfelves from her with things they 
wanted. Thefe were the national objects 
in the commencement of our colonies, and 
have been uniformly fo in their promotion. 

G 



5 o LETTER V. 

To anfwer thefe grand purpofes, perfect 
liberty was known to be neceflary ; all hif- 
tory proving, that trade and freedom are 
nearly related to each other. By a due re- 
gard to this wife and juft plan, the infant co- 
lonies expofed in the unknown climates, and 
unexplored wilderneffes of this new world, 
lived, grew, and flourifhed. 

The parent country with undeviating pru- 
dence and virtue, attentive to the firft prin- 
ciples of colonization, drew to herfelf the 
benefits fhe might reafonably expe£t, and 
preferved to her children the bletfings, on 
which thofe benefits were founded. She 
made laws obliging her colonies to carry to 
her all those produces which ihe wanted for 
her own ufe ; and all thofe raw materials 
which (he chofe herfelf to work up. Befides 
this reftridtion, (he forbade them to procure 
manufactures from any other part of the 
globe; or even the producls of European 
countries, which alone could rival her, 
without being firft brought to her. In fhort, 
by a variety of laws, (lie regulated their 
trade in fuch a manner, as (lie thought moft 
conducive to their mutual advantage, and 
her own welfare. A power was referved to 
the crown of repealing any laws that Ihould 
be enacled. The executive authority of 
government was all lodged in the crown 
and its reprefentatives ; and an appeal was 
fecured to the crown from all judgments in 
the adminiftration of juftice. 



LETTER V. 51 

For all thefe powers eftablifhed by the 
mother country over the colonies ; for all 
thefe immenfe emoluments derived by her 
from them ; for all their difficulties and dif- 
treftes in fixing themfelves, what was the re- 
compenfe made them ? A communication of 
her rights in general, and particularly of 
that great one, the foundation of all the 
reft — that their property, acquired with fo 
much pain and hazard, fhould not bedifpofed 
of by a any one but themfelves — or to ufe 
the beautiful and emphatic language of the 
facred fcriptures, " that they fhould fit 
every man under his vine, and under his fig 
tree, and none fhould make them afraid. " b 

Can any man of candour and knowledge 
deny, that thefe institutions, form an af- 
finity between Great-Britain and her colonies, 
that fufficiently fecures their dependance 
upon her ? or that for her to levy taxes 
upon them, is to reverfe the nature of things ? 
or that fhe can purfue fuch a meafure, with- 
out reducing them to a ftate of vaffalage ? 

If any perfon cannot conceive the Supre- 
macy of Great Britain to exift, without the 
power of laying taxes to levy money upon 
us, the hiftory of the colonies and of Great- 
Britain fince their fettlement will prove the 
contrary. He will there find the amazing 

(a) The power of taxing themfelves, was the privi- 
leges of which the Englifli were, with reafon, particu- 
larly jealous. Hume's hift. of England. 

(b) Mic. iv. 4. 




52 LETTER V. 

advantages arifing to her from them — The 
conftant exercife of her fupremacy — and 
their filial fubmiflion to it, without a fingle 
rebellion, or even the thought of one, from 
the firft. emigration to this moment — and 
all thefe things have happened, without an 
inftance of Great-Britain laying taxes to 
levy money upon them. 

How many Britifli authors c have remon- 

(c) It has been faid in the houfe of commons, when 
complaints have been made of the decay of trade to 
any part of Europe, " That fuch things were not worth 
regard, as Great-Britain was pofTeft of colonies that 
could confume more of her manufactures than (he was 
able to fupply them with." 

" As the cafe now ftands, we (hall {hew that the plan- 
tations are a fpring of wealth to this nation, that they 
work for us, that their treafure centers all here, and 
that the laws have tied them faft enough to us ; fo that 
it muft be through our own fault and mifmanagement, 
if they become independent of England." 

Davenant on the plantat. trade. 

" It is better that the iflands fhould be fupplied from 
the Northern Colonies than from England, for this rea- 
fon ; the provifions we might fend to Barbados, Jamaica, 
&c. would be unimproved product of the earth, as grain 
of all kinds, or fuch producl: where there is little got by 
the improvement, as malt, fait, beef and pork ; indeed 
the exportation of fait fifh thither would be more ad- 
vantageous, but the goods which we send to the northern 
colonies are fuch, whofe improvement may be juftly 
faid, one with another to be near four fifths of the 
value of the whole commodity, as apparel, houfehold 
furniture, and many other things." Idem. 

" New-England is the moft prejudicial plantation to 
the kingdom of England ; and yet, to do right to that 
moft induftrious Englifh colony, I muft confefs, that 
though we lofe by their unlimited trade with other 
foreign plantations, yet we are very great gainers by 
their direct trade to and from Old England. Our year- 



LETTER V. 53 

fixated that the prefent wealth, power and 
glory of their country are founded on thefe 
colonies ? As constantly as Streams tend to 
the ocean, have they been pouring the fruits 
of all their labours into their mother's lap. 
Good Heaven! And (hall a total oblivion of 

ly exportations of Englifh manufactures, malt and other 
goods, from hence thither, amounting, in my opinion, 
to ten times the value of what is imported from thence ; 
which calculation I do not make at random, but upon 
mature confideration, and peradventure, upon as much 
experience in this very trade, as any other perfon will 
pretend to ; and therefore, whenever reformation of 
our correfpondency in trade with that people (hall be 
thought on, it will, in my poor judgment, require 
great tendernefs, and very ferious circumfpedtion." 

Sir Jofiah Child's difcourfe on trade. 

" Our plantations fpend moftly our Englifh manu- 
factures, and thofe of all forts almoft imaginable, in 
egregious quantities, and employ near two thirds of all 
our Englifh (hipping ; fo that we have more people in 
England, by reafon of our plantations in America." 

Idem. 

Sir Jofiah Child fays, in another part of his work, 
" that not more than fifty families are maintained in 
England by the refining of fugar." From whence, and 
from what Davenant fays, it is plain, that the advan- 
tages here faid to be derived from the plantations by 
England, mud be meant chiefly of the continental colo- 
nies. 

" I (hall fum up my whole remarks on our American 
colonies, with this obfervation, that as they are a cer- 
tain annual revenue of feveral millions iterling to their 
mother country, they ought carefully to be protected, 
duly encouraged, and every opportunity that prefents, 
improved for their increafment and advantage, as every 
one they can poflibly reap, muft at leaft return to us 
with intereft. Beawes's Lex mere. red. 

" We may fafely advance, that our trade and navi- 
gation are greatly increafed by our colonies, and that 
they really are a fource of treafure and naval power 



54 LETTER V. 

former tenderneiTes and bleffings be fpread 
over the minds of a wife people, by the for- 
did acls of intriguing men, who covering 
their felfiih projects under pretences of public 
good, firft enrage their countrymen into a 
frenzy of paffion, and then advance their 

to this kingdom, fince they work for us, and their trea- 
fure centers here. Before their fettlement, our manu- 
factures were few, and thofe but indifferent ; the num- 
ber of Englifh merchants very fmall, and the whole 
(hipping of the nation much inferior to what now be- 
longs to the northern colonies only. Thefe are certain 
fa£ts. But fince their esftablifhment, our condition has 
altered for the better, almoft to a degree beyond credi- 
bility. Our manufactures are prodigioufly encreafed, 
chiefly by the demand for them in the plantations, 
where they at leaft take off one half, and fupply us 
with many valuable commodities for exportation, which 
is as great an emolument to the mother kingdom, as to 
the plantations themfelves." 

Poftlethwait's univerfal di<3. of trade and commerce. 

" Mod of the nations of Europe have interfered with 
us more or lefs, in divers of our ftaple manufactures, 
within half a century, not only in our woollen, but in 
our lead and tin manufactures, as well as our fifheries." 

Idem. 

" The inhabitants of our colonies, by carrying on a 
trade with their foreign neighbours, do not only occa- 
fion a greater quantity of the goods and merchandizes 
of Europe being fent from hence to them, and a greater 
quantity of the product of America to be fent from 
them thither, which would otherways be carried from, 
and brought to Europe by foreigners, but an increafe 
of the feamen and navigation in thofe parts, which is 
of great ftrength and fecurity, as well as of great ad- 
vantage to our plantations in general. And though 
fome of our colonies are not only for preventing the 
importations of all goods of the fame fpecies they pro- 
duce, but fuffer particular planters to keep great runs 
of land in their poffeflion uncultivated with defign to 
prevent new fettlements, whereby they imagine the 



LETTER V. 55 

own influence and intereft, by gratifying that 
paffion, which they themfelves have barely 
excited ? 

Hitherto Great-Britain has been contented 
with her profperity. Moderation has been 
the rule of her conducl. But now a gene- 
rous and humane people that fo often has 

prices of their commodities may be affected ; yet if it 
be confidered, that the markets of Great-Britain depend 
on the markets of all Europe in general, and that the 
European markets in general depend on the proportion 
between the annual confumption and the whole quantity 
of each fpecies annually produced by all nations ; it 
muft follow, that whether we or foreigners, are the 
producers, carriers, importers and exporters of American 
produce, yet their refpedtive prices in each colony (the 
difference of freight, cuftoms and importations con- 
fidered) will always bear proportion to the general con- 
fumption of the whole quantity of each fort, produced 
in all colonies, and in all parts, allowing only for 
the ufual contingencies, that trade and commerce, ag- 
riculture and manufactures are liable to in all countries." 

Idem. 
" It is certain, that from the very time Sir Walter 
Raleigh, the father of our Englifh colonies, and his af- 
fociates, firft projected thefe eftablifhments, there have 
been perfons who have found an intereft, in mifrepre- 
fenting, or leffening the value of them. — The attempts 
were called chimerical and dangerous. Afterwards ma- 
ny malignant fuggeftions were made, about facrifi- 
cing fo many Englifhmen to the obftinate defire of fet- 
tling colonies in countries which then produced very 
little advantage. But as thefe difficulties were gradually 
furmounted, thofe complaints vanifhed. No fooner were 
thefe lamentations over, but others arofe in their ftead ; 
when it could be no longer faid, that the colonies were 
ufelefs, it was alledged that they were not ufeful enough 
to their mother country ; that while we were loaded 
with taxes, they were abfolutely free ; that the planters 
lived like princes, when the inhabitants of England la- 
boured hard for a tolerable fubfiftence." Idem. 



56 LETTER V. 

protected the liberty of Arrangers, is inflamed 
into an attempt to tear a privilege from her 
own children, which, if executed, muft in 
their opinion, link them into Haves : And 
for what ? For a pernicious power, not 
neceflary to her, as her own experience may 

" Before the fettlement of thefe colonies," fays Po- 
ftlethwayt, " our manufactures were few, and thofe but 
indifferent. In thofe days we had not only our naval 
ftores, but our (hips from our neighbours. Germany 
furniihed us with all things made of metal, even to 
nails. Wine, paper, linens, and a thouland other things 
came from France. Portugal fupplied us with fugar ; 
all the produces of America were poured into us from 
Spain ; and the Venetians and Genoefe retailed to us 
the commodities of the Eaft-Indies, at their own price." 

" If it be afked, whether foreigners for what goods 
they take of us, do not pay on that confumption a great 
portion of our taxes ? It is admitted they do." 

Poftlethwayt's Great-Britain's true fyftem. 

" If we are afraid that one day or other the colonies 
will revolt, and fet up for themfelves, as fome feem to 
apprehend, let us not drive them to a neceffity to feel 
themfelves independant of us ; as they will do, the mo- 
ment they perceive that they can be fupplied with all 
things from within themfelves, and do not need our 
afliftance. If we would keep them ft ill dependant upon 
their mother country, and in fome refpedts fubfervient 
to their views and welfare, let us make it their intereft 
always to be fo." Tucker on trade. 

" Our colonies, while they have Englifh blood in 
their veins, and have relations in England, and while 
they can get by trading with us, the ftronger and great- 
er they grow, the more this crown and kingdom will get 
by them ; and nothing but fuch an arbitrary power as 
fhall make them defperate can bring them to rebel." 
Davenant on the plantation trade. 

" The northern colonies are not upon the fame foot- 
ing as thofe of the fouth ; and having a worfe foil to 
improve, they muft find the recompence fome other 
way, which only can be in property and dominion. 



LETTER V. 57 

convince her ; but horribly dreadful and de- 
tectable to them. 

It feems extremely probable, that when 
cool, difpaffionate pofterity (hall confider 
the afledlionate intercourfe, the reciprocal 
benefits, and the unfufpecling confidence, 

H 

Upon which fcore, any innovations in the form of 
government there, fhould be cautioufly examined, for 
fear of entering upon meafures, by which the induftry 
of the inhabitants may be quite difcouraged. 'Tis 
always unfortunate for a people, either by confent or 
upon compulfion, to depart from their primitive in- 
ftitutions, and thofe fundamental, by which they were 
firft united together. Idem. 

" All wife ftates will well confider how to preferve 
the advantages arifing from colonies, and avoid the 
evils. And I conceive that there can be but two ways 
in nature to hinder them from throwing off their de- 
pendence ; one to keep it out of their power, and the 
other, out of their will. The firft muft be by force ; 
and the latter by usfing them well, and keeping them 
employed in fuch productions, and making fuch manu- 
factures, as will fupport themfelves and families com- 
fortably, and procure them wealth too, and at leaft 
not prejudice their mother country. 

Force can never be ufed effectually to anfwer the end, 
without deftroying the colonies themfelves. Liberty 
and encouragement are neceflary to carry people thither, 
and to keep them together when they are there ; and 
violence will hinder both. Any body of troops con- 
fiderable enough to awe them, and keep them in fub- 
jeclion, under the direction too of a needy governor, 
often fent thither to make his fortune, and at fuch a 
diftance from any application for redrefs, will soon put 
an end to all planting, and leave the country to the 
foldiers alone, and if it did not, would eat up all the 
profit of the colony. For this reafon, arbitrary countries 
have not been equally fuccefsful in planting colonies 
with free ones ; and what they have done in that kind, 
has either been by force at a vaft expence, or by depart- 



58 LETTER V. 

that have fubfifted between thefe colonies 
and their parent country, for fuch a length 
of time, they will execrate with the bittereft 
curfes the infamous memory of thofe men, 
whose peftilential ambition, unneceftarily, 
wantonly, firft opened the fources of civil 
difcord, between them ; firft turned their 
love into jealoufy ; and firft taught thefe 
provinces, filled with grief and anxiety, to 
enquire, 

" Mens ubi tnaterna eft V* 
Where is maternal affeclion. 

A FARMER. 

ing from the nature of their government, and giving 
fuch privileges to planters as were denied to their other 
fubje&s. And I dare fay, that a few prudent laws, and 
a little prudent condudt, would foon give us far the 
greateft fhare of the riches of all America, perhaps 
drive many of other nations out of it, or into our co- 
lonies for ftielter. 

There are fo many exigencies in all ftates, fo many 
foreign wars and domeftic difturbances, that thefe co- 
lonies can never want opportunities, if they watch for 
them, to do what they (hall find their intereft to do ; 
and therefore we ought to take all the precautions in 
our power, that it (hall never be their intereft to adf. 
againft that of their native country ; an evil which 
can no otherways be averted, than by keeping them 
fully employed in fuch trades as will increafe their own, 
as well as our wealth ; for it is much to be feared, if 
we do not find employment for them, they may find it 
for us. The intereft of the mother country is always 
to keep them dependent, and fo employed -, and it re- 
quires all her addrefs to do it ; and it is certainly more 
eallly and efFeftually done by gentle and infenfible me- 
thods, than by power alone. Cato's letters. 



LETTER VI. 

Beloved Countrymen, 

IT may perhaps be objected againft the ar- 
guments that have been offered to the 
public concerning the legal power of the 
parliament, that it has always exercifed the 
power of impoiing duties for the purpofes 
of raifing a revenue on the productions of 
thefe colonies carried to Great-Britain, which 
may be called a tax on them. To this I 
answer ; that is no more a violation of the 
rights of the colonies, than their being or- 
dered to carry certain of their productions to 
Great-Britain, which is no violation at all ; 
it being implied in the relation between them, 
that the colonies mould not carry fuch com- 
modities to other nations, as fhould enable 
them to interfere with the mother country. 
The duties impofed on thefe commodities 
when brought to her, are only a confequence 
of her paternal right ; and if the point is 
thoroughly examined, will be found to be 
laid on the people of the mother country, 
and not at all dangerous to the liberties of 
the colonies. Whatever thefe duties are, 
they mull proportionably raife the price of 
thegoods, and confequently the duties mufl: be 
paid by the confumers. In this light they were 



60 LETTER VI. 

confidered by the parliament in the 25 Char. 
II. Chap. 7, fee. 2, which fays, that the pro- 
ductions of the plantations were carried from 
one to another free from all cuftoras "while 
' ' the fubje&s of this your kingdom of Eng- 
' ' land have paid great cuftoms and impo- 
' ' fitions for what of them have been fpent 
' ' here, &c." Such duties therefore can ne- 
ver be injurious to the liberties of the colo- 
nies. 

Befides, if Great-Britain exports thefe 
commodities again, the duties will injure her 
own trade, fo that me cannot hurt us with- 
out plainly and immediately hurting herfelf ; 
and this is our check againfr. her acting arbi- 
trarily in this refpecf. 

It a may, perhaps, be further objected, 
' ' that it being granted that ftatutes made 

(a) ' If any one fliould obferve, that no oppofition 
' has been made to the legality of the 4th Geo. III. ch. 
' 15, which is the firft a£t of parliament that ever im- 
' pofed duties on the importations in America, for the 
' exprefs purpofe of raifing a revenue there, I anfwer, 
' firft, that tho' that act exprefsly mentions the raifing 
' a revenue in America, yet it feems that it had as much 
4 in view, " the improving and fecuring the trade between 
" the fame and Great-Britain," ' which words are part 
' of its title, and the preamble fays, " Whereas it is ex- 
" pedient that new provifions and regulations mould be 
" eftablifhed for improving the revenue of this kingdom, 
" and for extending and fecuring the navigation and 
" commerce between Great-Britain and your Majefty's 
" dominions in America, which, by the peace, have been 
" fo happily extended and enlarged, &c." ' Secondly, 
' all the duties mentioned in that adt, are impofed fole- 
' ly on the productions and manufactures of foreign 



LETTER VI. 61 

for regulating trade are binding upon us, 
it will be difficult for any perfons but the 
makers of the laws to determine, which 
of them are made for the regulating of 
trade, and which for railing a revenue ; 
and that from hence may arife confufion." 
To this I anfwer, that the objection is of 
no force in the prefent cafe, or fuch as re- 
femble it, becaufe the a£t now in queflrion 
is formed exprefsly for the fole purpofe of 
railing a revenue. 

However, fuppofing the defign of the par- 
liament had not been exprelfed, the objecti- 
on feems to me of no weight, with regard 
to the influence, which thofe who may make 

' countries, and not a fingle duty laid on any produ&i- 
' on or manufacture of our mother country. Thirdly, 
' the authority of the provincial affemblies is not therein 
' fo plainly attacked, as by the Iaft acl:, which makes pro- 
' vifion for defraying the charges of the adminiftration 
' of juftice, and the fupport of civil government, 4-thly, 
' That it being doubtful whether the intention of the 
' 4th Geo. III. ch. 15, was not as much to regulate trade 
' as to raife a revenue, the minds of the people here 
' were wholly engrofTed by the terror of the Stamp-adt, 
' then impending over them, about the intention of 
' which they could be in no doubt.' 

' Thefe reafons fo far diftinguish 4th Geo. III. ch. 15, 
' from the laft aft, that it is not to be wondered at, that 
' the firft fhould have been fubmitted to, though the laft 
' fhould excite the moft univerfal and fpirited oppofiti- 
' on. For this will be found on the ftridtest examinati- 
' on to be, in the principle on which it is founded, and 
' in the confequences that muft attend it, if poflible, 
' more deftrudtive than the Stamp-acl. It is, to fpeak 
' plainly, a prodigy in our laws, not having one Britifh 
' feature.' 



62 LETTER VI. 

it, might expecl it ought to have on the 
conduct of the colonies. 

It is true, that impofitions for railing a 
revenue, may be hereafter called regulations 
of trade, but names will not change the na- 
ture of things. Indeed we ought firmly to 
believe, what is an undoubted truth, confirm- 
ed by the unhappy experience of many ftates 
heretofore free, that unlefs the moft watch- 
ful attention be exerted, a new fervitude 
may be llipped upon us under the fandb'on 
of ufual and refpedtable terms. 

Thus the Ca?fars ruined Roman liberty, 
under the titles of tribunical and dictatorial 

authorities, old and venerable dignities, 

known in the moft flourilhing times of free- 
dom. In imitation of the fame policy, James 
II. when he meant to eftablifh popery, talk- 
ed of liberty of confcience, the moft lacred 
of all liberties ; and had thereby almoft de- 
ceived the diffenters into deftrudlion. 

All artful rulers, who ftrive to extend their 
own power beyond its juft limits, endeavour 
to give to their attempts, as much femblance 
of legality as poflible. Thofe who fucceed 
them may venture to go a little farther ; for 
each new encroachment will be ftrengthened 
by a former, b " That which is now fupport- 
" ed by examples, growing old, will be- 
" come an example itfelf," and thus fup- 
port freih ufurpations. 

(b) Tacitus. 



LETTER VI. 63 

A free people, therefore, can never be 
too quick in obferving, nor too firm in op- 
poling the beginnings of alterations, either 
in form or reality, refpecling inftitutions 
formed for their fecurity. The firft leads 
to the laft ; on the other hand nothing is 
more certain, than that forms of liberty may 
be retained, when the fubftance is gone. In 
government as well as in religion, " the 
" letter killeth, but the fpirit giveth life." c 

I will beg leave to enforce this remark by 
a few inftances. The crown, by the constitu- 
tion, has the prerogative of creating peers ; 
the existence of that order in due number 
and dignity, is elfential to the conftitution ; 
and if the crown did not exercife that pre- 
rogative, the peerage mull have long fince 
decreafed lb much, as to have loll its proper 
influence. Suppole a prince for fome unjuft 
purpofes, Ihould from time to time advance 
many needy profligate wretches, to that 
rank, that all the independance of the houfe 
of Lords mould be deltroyed, there would 
then be a manifeft violation of the conftituti- 
on, under the appearance of uiing legal pre- 
rogative. 

The houfe of Commons claim the privi- 
lege of forming all money-bills, and will 
not fuffer either of the other branches of the 
legiflature to add to or alter them; contend- 
ing that their power, limply extends to an 

(r) 2 Cor. iii. 6 



64 LETTER VI. 

acceptance or rejection of them. This privi- 
lege appears to be juft ; but under pretence 
of this juft privilege, the houfe of Commons 
has claimed a licence of tacking to money 
bills, claufes relating to many things of a total- 
ly different kind, and have thus forced them, 
in a manner, on the crown and lords. This 
feems to be an abufe of that privilege, and 
it may be vaftly more abufed. Suppofe a 
future houfe ; influenced by fome difplaced 
difcontented demagogues, in a time of dan- 
ger, ftiould tack to a money bill fomething 
fo injurious to the king and peers, that they 
would not affent to it and yet the Commons 
(houldobftinately inlift on it; the wholeking- 
dom would be expofed to ruin, under the ap- 
pearance of maintaining a valuable privilege. 

In thefe cafes it might be difficult for a 
while to determine, whether the King in- 
tended to exercife his prerogative in a con- 
ftitutional manner or not ; or whether the 
Commons infilled on the demand facf itioufly, 
or for the public good : But furely the con- 
duel of the crown, or of the houfe, would 
in time fufficiently explain itfelf. 

Ought not the people therefore to watch 
to obferve facls ? to fearch into caufes ? to 
inveftigate defigns ? and have they not a 
right of judging from the evidence before 
them, on no (lighter points than their liber- 
ty and happinefs ? It would be lefs than trif- 
ling, wherever a Britifh government is efta- 
bliftied, to make ufe of any other arguments 



LETTER VI. 65 

to prove fuch a right. It is fufficient to re- 
mind the reader of the day on which King 
William landed at Torbay. d 

I will now apply what has been faid to 
the prefent queftion. The nature of any im- 
pofitions laid by parliament on the colonies, 
muft determine the deiign in laying them. 
It may not be eafy in every inftance to dif- 
cover that deiign. Whenever it is doubtful, 
I think, fubmimon cannot be dangerous ; 
nay, it muft be right : for, in my opinion, 
there is no privilege the colonies claim, which 
they ought, in duty and prudence, more 
earneftly to maintain and defend, than the 
authority of the Britifti parliament to regu- 
late the trade of all her dominions. Without 
this authority, the benefits (be enjoys from 
our commerce, muft be loft to her : The 
bleflings we enjoy from our dependance up- 
on her, muft be loft to us ; her ftrength muft 
decay; her glory vanifti; and lhe cannot fuf- 
fer, without our partaking in her misfortune. 

" Let us therefore cherilh her intereft 

" as our own, and give her every thing 
" that it becomes FREEMEN to give or 
" to receive." 

The nature of any impofitions (he may 
lay upon us, may in general be known, con- 
sidering how far they relate to the preferv- 
ing, in due order, the connexion between the 

I 

(a) November 5, 1688. 



66 LETTER VI. 

feveral parts of the Britijh empire. One thing 
we may be affured of, which is this ; when- 
ever a ftatute impofes duties on commodities, 
to be paid only upon their exportation from 
Great-Britain to thefe colonies, it is not a 
regulation of trade, but a delign to raife a 
revenue upon us. Other instances may hap- 
pen, which it may not be neceffary to dwell 
on. I hope thefe colonies will never, to their 
lateft existence, want understanding Suffici- 
ent to difcover the intentions of thofe who 
rule over them, nor the refolution neceffary 
for afferting their interests. They will al- 
ways have the fame right that all free ftates 
have, of judging when their privileges are 
invaded, and of ufing all prudent meafures 
for preferving them. 

" ^uocirca vivite fortes" 

" Fortiaque adverfis opponite pecJora rebus," 

Wherefore keep up your fpirits, and gal- 
lantly oppofe this adverfe courfe of affairs. 

A FARMER. 



LETTER VII. 



Beloved Countrymen, 

THIS letter is intended more particularly 
for fuch of you, whofe employment 
in life may have prevented your attending to 
the conlideration of fome points that are of 
great and public importance. For many 
fuch perfons there mull be even in thefe co- 
lonies, where the inhabitants in general are 
more intelligent than any other people, as 
has been remarked by flxangers, and it seems 
with reafon. 

Some of you perhaps, filled as I know your 
breafts are with loyalty to our moft excellent 
prince, and with love to our dear mother / 
country, may feel yourfelves inclined by the 
affeclions of your hearts, to approve every 
adtion of thofe whom you fo much venerate 
and efteem. 

A prejudice thus flowing from goodnefs 
of difpofition is amiable indeed. I wifh it 
could be indulged without danger. Did I 
think this poflible, the error mould have 
been adopted, not oppofed by me. But in 
truth, all men are fubjecT: to the paflions and 
frailties of nature; and therefore whatever re- 
gard we entertain for the perfons of thofe 
who govern us, we mould alwavs remem- 



68 LETTER VII. 

ber that their conduct as rulers may be in- 
fluenced by human infirmities. 

When any laws injurious to thefe colonies 
are pafled, we cannot, with the leafli propri- 
ety, fuppofe that any injury was intended us 
by his Majefty or the Lords. For the aflent 
of the crown and peers to law feems, as far 
as I am able to judge, to have been veiled in 
them, more for their own fecurity than for 
any other purpofe. On the other hand, it is 
the particular bufinefs of the people to en- 
quire and difcover what regulations are ufe- 
ful for themfelves, and to digefr. and prefent 
them in the form of bills to the other orders, 
to have them enacled into laws — Where 
thefe laws are to bind themfelves, it may 
be expected that the houfe of Commons will 
very carefully confider them : But when they 
are making laws, that are not defigned to 
bind themfelves, we cannot imagine that 
their deliberations will be as cautious and 
fcrupulous as in their own cafe. a 

(a) Many remarkable inftances might be produced of 
the extraordinary inattention with which bills of great 
importance, concerning thefe colonies, have pafled in 
parliament ; which is owing, as it is fuppoffed, to the 
bills being brought in by the perfons who have points to 
carry, fo artfully framed, that it is not eafy for the 
members in general, in the hafte of bufinefs, to difco- 
ver their tendency. 

The following inftances (hew the truth of this remark. 
When Mr. Grenville, in the violence of reformation 
and innovation, formed the 4th Geo. III. chap. 15th, 
for regulating the American trade, the word " Ireland " 
was dropt in the claufe relating to our iron and lumber, 
fo that we could fend thefe articles to no other part 



LETTER VII. 69 

I am told that there is a wonderful ad- 
drefs frequently ufed in carrying points in 
the houfe of commons, by perfons experien- 
ced in thefe affairs — that opportunities are 
watched — and fometimes votes are part, that 
if all the members had been prefent, would 

of Europe, but to Great-Britain. This was fo unreafon- 
able a reftri&ion, and fo contrary to the fentiments of 
the legiflature, for many years before, that it is furprif- 
ing it fhould not have been taken notice of in the houfe. 
However the bill parted into a law. But when the mat- 
ter was explained, this reftridtion was taken off in a fub- 
fequent a£t. 

I cannot poftively fay, how long after the taking off 
this reftri£tion, as I have not the a£ts ; but I think in lefs 
than eighteen months, another a£t of parliament paffed, 
in which the word " Ireland," was left out as it had 
been before. The matter being a fecond time explain- 
ed, was a fecond time regulated. 

Now if it be confidered, that the omiflion mentioned 
ftruck off, with one word, fo very great a part of our 
trade, it mult appear remarkable : and equally fo is the 
method by which rice became an enumerated commodi- 
ty, and therefore could be carried to Great-Britain only. 

" The enumeration was obtained, (fays Mr. Gee*) by 
one Cole, a Captain of a (hip, employed by a company 
then trading to Carolina ; for feveral fhips going from 
England thither and purchafing rice for Portugal, pre- 
vented the aforefaid Captain of a loading. Upon his 
coming home, he poffefled one Mr. Lowndes, a member 
of parliament (who was very frequently employed to 
prepare bills) with an opinion, that carrying rice direct- 
ly to Portugal was a prejudice to the trade of England, 
and privately got a claufe into an adt to make it an e- 
numerated commodity ; by which means he fecured a 
freight to himfelf. But the confequence proved a vaft 
lofs to the nation." 

I find that this claufe " privately got into an a£t," 
for the benefit of Capt. Cole, to the vaft lofs of the nati- 
on," is foifted into the 3d Anne, chap. 5, intituled, 
* Gee on trade, p. 32. 



1 



7 o LETTER VII. 

have been rejecled by a great majority. 
Certain it is, that when a powerful and art- 
ful man has determined on any meafure a- 
gainfl: thefe colonies, he has always fucceed- 
ed in his attempt. Perhaps therefore it 
will be proper for us, whenever any oppref- 
five acl affecting us is part, to attribute it to 
the inattention of the members of the houfe 
of commons, and to the malevolence or 
ambition of fome factious great man, rather 
than to any other caufe. 

Now I do verily believe, that the late acl 
of parliament impofing duties on paper, &c. 
was formed by Mr. Grenville and his party, 
becaufe it is evidently a part of that plan, 
by which he endeavoured to render himfelf 
popular at home ; and I do alfo believe that 
not one half of the members of the houfe 
of commons, even of thofe who heard it 
read, did perceive how deftruclive it was to 
American freedom. 

For this reafon, as it is ufual in Great- 
Britain, to coniider the King's fpeech, as 
the fpeech of the miniftry, it may be right 
here to coniider this acl: as the acl: of a party. 
— Perhaps I mould fpeak more properly if I 
was to ufe another term. — 



" An a£t for granting to her Majefty a further fubfidy 
" on wines and merchandizes imported," with which 
it has no more connexion, than with 34th Edw. 1. 34th 
and 35th of Henry VIII. or the 25th of Car. II. which 
provide that no perfon fhall be taxed but by himfelf or 
his reprefentative. 



LETTER VII. 71 

There are two ways of laying taxes. — 
One is by impofing a certain fum on parti- 
cular kinds of property, to be paid by the 
ufer or confumer, or by taxing the perfon 
at a certain fum ; the other is, by impofing 
a certain fum on particular kinds of property 
to be paid by the feller. 

When a man pays the firfi: fort of tax, he 
knows with certainty that he pays fo much 
money for a tax. The confideration for 
which he pays it is remote, and it may be does 
not occur to him. He is fenfible too that 
he is commanded and obliged to pay it as a 
tax ; and therefore people are apt to be dif- 
pleafed with this fort of tax. 

The other fort of tax is fubmitted to in 
a very different manner. The purchafer of 
any article very feldom reflects that the 
feller raifes his price fo as to indemnify him 
for the tax he has paid. He knows the 
prices of things are continually fluctuating, 
and if he thinks about the tax, he thinks 
at the fame time in all probability, that he 
might have paid as much, if the article he 
buys had not been taxed. He gets fome- 
thing vifible and agreeable for his money, 
and tax and price are fo confounded toge- 
ther, that he cannot feparate, or does not 
chufe to take the trouble of feparating 
them. 

This mode of taxation therefore is the 
mode fuited to arbitrary and oppreflive go- 
vernments. The love of liberty is fo natural 






72 LETTER VII. 

to the human heart, that unfeeling tyrants 
think themfelves obliged to accommodate 
their fchemes as much as they can to the 
appearance of juftice and reafon, and to 
deceive thofe whom they refolve to deftroy 
or opprefs, by prefenting to them a mifera- 
ble picture of freedom, when the ineftimable 
original is loft. 

This policy did not efcape the cruel and 
rapacious Nero. That monfter, apprehen- 
iive that his crimes might endanger his au- 
thority and life, thought proper to do 
fome popular acts to fecure the obedience of 
his fubjects. Among other things, fays 
b Tacitus, " he remitted the twenty-fifth 
" part of the price on the fale of Haves, 
" but rather in fhew than reality ; for the 
" feller being ordered to pay it, it became 
" a part of the price to the buyer." 

This is the reflection of the judicious hif- 
torian : but the deluded people gave their 
infamous emperor full credit for his falfe 
generofity. Other nations have been treated 
in the fame manner the Romans were. The 
honeft induftrious Germans who are fettled 
in different parts of this continent can in- 
form us, that it was this fort of tax that 
drove them from their native land to our 
woods, at that time the feats of perfect and 
undifturbed freedom. 

Their princes inflamed by the luft of 
power and the luft of avarice, two furies, 

(£) Tacitus's An. b. 13. f. 31. 



LETTER VII. 73 

that the more hungry they grow, tranfgreffed 
the bounds, they ought in regard to themfel- 
ves, to have obferved. To keep up the decep- 
tion in the minds of fubjecls " there mull 
be," fays a very learned author d " fome 
proportion between the import and the value 
of the commodity ; wherefore there ought 
not to be an exceffive duty upon merchan- 
dizes of little value. There are countries 
in which the duty exceeds feventeen or eigh- 
teen times the value of the commodity. In 
this cafe the prince removes the illuiion. 
His fubjedls plainly fee they are dealt with 
in an unreafonable manner, which renders 
them moil exquifitely fenfible of their flavifh 
fituation." 

From hence it appears that fubjecls may 
be ground down into mifery by this fort of 
taxation as well as the other. They may be 
as much impoverished if their money is 
taken from them in this way, as in the other ; 
and that it will be taken, may be more evi- 
dent, by attending to a few more confidera- 
tions. 

The merchant, or importer who pays the 
duty at firft, will not confent to be Co much 
money out of pocket. He, therefore, pro- 
portionably raifes the price of his goods. It 
may then be faid to be a conteft between 
him and the perfon offering to buy, who 
(hall lofe the duty. This rauft be decided 
by the nature of the commodities and the 
purchafers demand for them. If they are 

K 

(d) Montefquieu's fpirit of laws, b. 13. chap. 8. 

r 



74 LETTER VII. 

mere luxuries, he is at liberty to do as he 
pleafes, and if he buys, he does it voluntari- 
ly : But if they are abfolute neceflaries, or 
conveniences which ufe and cuftom have 
made requilite for the comfort of life, and 
which he is not permitted, by the power 
impoiing the duty, to get elfewhere, there 
the feller has a plain advantage, and the 
buyer mufl pay the duty. In fait, the feller 
is nothing lefs than the collector of the tax 
for the power that impofed it. If thefe 
duties then are extended to neceifaries and 
conveniences of life in general, and enor- 
moufly increafed, the people mufl: at length 
become indeed " moft exquilitely fenfible 
of their flavifli fituation." 

Their happinefs, therefore, entirely de- 
pends on the moderation of thofe who have 
authority to impofe the duties. 

I fliall now apply thefe obfervations to the 
late acl of parliament. Certain duties are 
thereby impofed on paper and glafs, &c. im- 
ported into thefe colonies. By the laws of 
Great-Britain we are prohibited to get thefe 
articles from any other part of the world. 
We cannot at prefent, nor for many years to 
come, though we fhould apply ourfelves to 
thefe manufactures with the utmoft induftry, 
make enough ourfelves for our own ufe. 
That paper and glafs are not only convenient, 
but abfolutely neceifary for us, I imagine ve- 
ry few will contend. Some, perhaps, who 
think mankind grew wicked and luxurious as 
foon as they found out another way of com- 



LETTER VII. 75 

municating their fentiments than by fpeech, 
and another way of dwelling than in caves, 
may advance fo whimfical an opinion. But 
I prefume nobody will take the unnecefFary 
trouble of refuting them. 

From thefe remarks I think it evident, that 
we rauft ufe paper and glafs, that what we 
ufe muft be Britijh, and that we muft pay 
the duties impofed unlefs thofe who fell 
thefe articles are fo generous as to make us 
prefents of the duties they pay, which is not 
to be expecled. 

Some perfons may think this acT: of no con- 
fequence, becaufe the duties are fo J mall. 
A fatal error. That is the very circum- 
ftance moft alarming to me. For I am con- 
vinced that the authors of this law, would ne- 
ver have obtained an acl to raife fo trifling 
a fum, as it muft do, had they not intend- 
ed by it to eftabliih a precedent for future 
ufe. To confole ourfelves with the fmallnefs 
of the duties, is to walk deliberately into the 
fnare that is fet for us, praifing the neatnefs 
of the workmanfhip. Suppofe the duties, 
impofed by the late acl, could be paid by 
thefe diftreffed colonies, with the utmoft eafe, 
and that the purpofes, to which they are to 
be applied, were the moft reafonable and e- 
quitable that could be conceived, the contra- 
ry of which I hope to demonftrate before 
thefe letters are concluded, yet even in such 
a fuppofed cafe, thefe colonies ought to re- 
gard the acl with abhorrence. For who are 
a free people ? not thofe over whom govern- 
ment is reafonably and equitably exercifed 






yb LETTER VII. 

but thofe who live under a government, fo 
conjlitutionally checked and controuled, that 
proper provision is made againft its being o- 
therwife exercifed. The late aft is founded on 
the deftruclion of this conftitutional fecurity. 

If the parliament have a right to lay a duty 
of four (hillings and eight pence on a hun- 
dred weight of glafs, or a ream of paper, 
they have a right to lay a duty of any other 
fum on either. They may raife the duty 
as the author before quoted fays, has been 
done in fome countries, till it " exceeds fe- 
" venteen or eighteen times the value of the 
" commodity." In fhort, if they have a 
right to levy a tax of one penny upon us, 
they have a right to levy a million upon us. 
For where does their right ftop ? At any gi- 
ven number of pence, (hillings, or pounds ? 
To attempt to limit their right, after grant- 
ing it to exift at all, is as contrary to reafon, 
as granting it to exift at all is contrary to 
juftice. If they have any right to tax us, 
then, whether our own money (hall continue 
in our own pockets, or not, depends no long- 
er on us, but on them. " There is nothing 
" which we can call our own", or to ufe 
the words of Mr. Locke, " What property 
" have" we " in that, which another may, 
" by right, take, when he pleafes, to him- 
" felf." c 

Thefe duties, which will inevitably be le- 
vied upon us, and which are now levying up- 
on us, are exprefsly laid for the fole purpofe 
of taking money. This is the true definiti- 

(e) Speech Lord Cambden lately publifhed. 



LETTER VII. 77 

on of taxes. They are therefore taxes. This 
money is to be taken from us. We are 
therefore taxed. Thole who are taxed with- 
out their own confent, given by themfelves, 
or their reprefentatives, are flaves. f We are 

(f) This is the opinion of Mr. Pitt, in his fpeech on 
the Stamp-ad:. 

" It is my opinion, that this kingdom has no right to 
" lay a tax upon the colonies. The Americans are the 
« SONS, not the BASTARDS of England. The dif- 
" tindtion between legiflation and taxation is eflential- 
" ly neceflary to liberty. The Commons of America re- 
" prefented in their feveral aflemblies, have ever been 
" in poffeflion of this their constitutional right of giv- 
" ing and granting their own money. They would 
" have been flaves if they had not enjoyed it. The i- 
" dea of a virtual reprefentation of America, in this 
" houfe, is the moft contemptible idea that ever enter- 
" ed into the head of man. It does not deferve a feri- 
" ous refutation. 

That great and excellent man Lord Cambden, main- 
tains the fame opinion in his fpeech, in the houfe of 
peers, on the declaratory bill of the fovereignty of Great- 
Britain over the colonies. The following extracts fo 
perfectly agree with, and confirm the fentiments avow- 
ed in thefe letters, that it is hoped the inferting them in 
this note will be excufed. 

" As the affair is of the utmoft importance, and in its 
" confequences may involve the fate of kingdoms, I took 
" the ftridest review of my arguments ; I re-examined 
" all my authorities ; fully determined, if I found my- 
"• felf miftaken, publicly to own my miffake, and give up 
" my opinion, but my fearches have more and more 
" convinced me, that the Britifh parliament have no 
" right to tax the Americans. Nor is the dodtrine new; 
" it is as old as the constitution ; it grew up with it, 
" indeed it is its fupport. Taxation and reprefentation 
" are infeparably united. God hath joined them ; no 
" Britifh parliament can feparate them ; to endeavour 
" to do it is to flab our vitals. 

" My pofition is this — I repeat it — I will maintain it 
" to my laft hour — Taxation and reprefentation are in- 
" feparable. This pofition is ounded on the laws of 
" nature ; it is more, it is itfelf an eternal law of na- 



78 LETTER VII. 

taxed without our own confent given by 
ourfelves, or our reprefentatives. We are 

therefore 1 fpeak. it with grief I 

fpeak it with indignation we are flaves. 

" Miferabile vulgus. 

A miferable tribe. 

A FARMER. 

" ture ; for whatever is a man's own, is abfolutely his 
" own ; and no man hath a right to take it from him 
" without his confent, either expreffed by himself or 
" reprefentative ; whoever attempts to do it, attempts 
"an injury; whoever does it, commits a robbery; he 
" throws down the diftin&ion between liberty and fla- 
" very." " There is not a blade of grafs, in the moft 
" obfcure corner of the kingdom, which is not, which 
" was not, reprefented fince the constitution began : 
" there is not a blade of grafs, which when taxed, was 
" not taxed by the confent of the proprietor." " The 
" forefathers of the Americans did not leave their na- 
" tive country, and fubje£t themfelves to every danger 
" and diftrefs, to be reduced to the ftate of flavery. They 
" did not give up their rights ; they looked for protec- 
" tion, and not for chains, from their mother-country. 
" By her they expected to be defended in the pofTefTion of 
" their property ; and not to be deprived of it : For fhould 
" the prefent power continue, there is nothing which 
" they can call their own, or, to ufe the words of Mr. 
" Locke, what property have they in that, which ano- 
" ther may, by right, take, when he pleafes, to him 
« felf." 

It is impoflible to read this fpeech and Mr. Pitt's, and 
not be charmed with the generous zeal for the rights of 
mankind, that glows in every fentence. Thefe great 
and good men, animated by the fubjed: they fpeak up- 
on, feem to rife above all the former glorious exertions 
of their abilities. A foreigner might be tempted to 
think they are Americans, afferting with all the ardour 
of patriotifm, and all the anxiety of apprehenfion, the 
caufe of their native land, and not Britons driving to 
flop their miltaken countrymen from opprefling others. 
There reafoning is not only juft ; it is " vehement," as 
Mr. Hume fays of the eloquence of Demofthenes, 
" 'Tis difdain, anger, boldnefs, freedom, involved in a 
" continual llream of argument." Hume's EfTay on E- 
loquence. 



LETTER VIII. 

Beloved Countrymen, 

IN my opinion, a dangerous example is 
fet in the lafl ad: relating to thefe colo- 
nies. The power of parliament to levy 
money upon us for railing a revenue, is 
therein avowed and exerted. Regarding 
the acT: on this lingle principle, I mull: again 
repeat, and I think it my duty to repeat, 
that to me it appears to be unconstitutional. 

No man, who conliders the conduct of 
parliament lince the repeal of the Stamp-adf , 
and the difpofition of many people at home, 
can doubt, that the chief object of attention 
there, is, to ufe Mr. Grenville's expremon, 
" providing that the dependance and obedi- 
ence of the colonies be alferted and main- 
tained." 

Under the influence of this notion, inftant- 
ly on repealing the Stamp-act , an adl palfed, 
declaring the power of parliament to bind 
thefe colonies in all cafes whatever. This, 
however, was only planting a barren tree, 
that call: a lhade indeed over the colonies, 
but yielded no fruit. It being determined 
to enforce the authority on which the Stamp- 
acT: was founded, the parliament having 
never renounced the right, as Mr. Pitt ad- 
vifed them to do ; and it being thought 



80 LETTER VIII. 

proper to difguife that authority in fuch a 
manner, as not again to alarm the colo- 
nies ; fome little time was required to find 
a method, by which both thefe points mould 
be united. At laft the ingenuity of Mr. 
Greenville and his party accomplifhed the 
matter, as it was thought, in " An act for 
granting certain duties in the Britifh colo- 
nies and plantations in America, for allow- 
ing drawbacks, &c. which is the title of the 
act laying duties on paper, &c. 

The parliament having feveral times be- 
fore impofed duties to be paid in America, 
it was expected no doubt, that the repeti- 
tion of fuch a meafure would be paifed over 
as an ufual thing. But to have done this, 
without exprefsly afferting and maintaining 
" the power of parliament to take our mo- 
ney without our confent," and to apply it as 
they pleafe, would not have been fufficiently 
declarative of its fupremacy, nor fufficiently 
depreffive of American freedom. 

Therefore it is, that in this memorable acl: 
we find it exprefsly " provided" that money 
{hall be levied upon us without our confent, 
for purpofes, that render it, if poffible. more 
dreadful than the Stamp-act. 

That acl, alarming as it was, declared, 
the money thereby to be raifed, mould be 
applied " towards defraying the expences 
" of defending, protecting and fecuring the 
" Britifh colonies and plantations in Ameri- 
" ca :" And it is evident from the whole 
act, that by the word " Britifh " were in- 



LETTER VIII. 81 

tended colonies and plantations fettled by 
Britiih people, and not generally, thofe fub- 
jecTt to the Britiih crown. That a£t therefore 
feemed to have fomething gentle and kind in 
its intention, and to aim only at our own wel- 
fare : But the adl: now objected to, impofes 
duties upon the Britiih colonies, " to defray 
the expences of defending, protecting and 
fecuringhis Majefty'sdominionsin America." 

What a change of words ! What an incom- 
putable addition to the expences intended by 
the Stamp-a<fl ! " His Majefty's dominions " 
comprehended not only the Britiih colonies ; 
but alfo the conquered provinces of Canada 
and Florida, and the Britiih garrifons of Nova- 
Scotia ; for thefe do not deferve the name 
of colonies. 

What juftice is there in making us pay for 
" defending, protecting and fecuring" thefe 
places ? What benefit can we, or have we ever 
derived from them r None of them was con- 
quered for us ; nor will " be defended, pro- 
tected and fecured" for us. 

In facl, however advantageous thefubduing 
or keeping any of thefe countries may be to 
Great-Britain, the acquiiition is greatly inju- 
rious to thefe colonies. Our chief property 
confifts in lands. Thefe would have been of 
a much greater value, if fuch prodigious ad- 
ditions had not been made to the Britiih ter- 
ritories on this continent. The natural in- 
creafe of our own people, if confined within 

L 



82 LETTER VIII. 

the colonies, would have railed the value ftill 
higher and higher, every fifteen or twenty 
years. Belides, we fhould have lived more 
compactly together, and have been therefore 
more able to refift any enemy. 

But now the inhabitants will be thinly 
fcattered over an immenfe region, as thofe 
who want fettlements, will chufe to make 
new ones, rather than pay great prices for 
old ones. 

Thefe are the confequences to the colonies 
of the hearty afiiftance they gave to Great- 
Britain in the late war. A war, underta- 
ken folely for her own benefit. The objects 
of it were, the fecuring to herfelf the rich 
tracts of land on the back of thefe colonies, 
with the Indian trade, and Nova-Scotia with 
the fifhery. Thefe, and much more has that 
kingdom gained ; but the inferior animals 
that hunted with the Lion, have been amply 
rewarded for all the fweat and blood their 
loyalty coft them, by the honour of having 
fweated and bled in fuch company. 

I will not go fo far as to fay, that Cana- 
da and Nova-Scotia are curbs on New-Eng- 
land ; the chain of forts through the back 
woods, on the middle provinces ; and Flori- 
da, on the reft : but I will venture to say, that 
if the products of Canada, Nova-Scotia and 
Florida, deferve any coniideration, the two 
firft of them are only rivals of our northern 
colonies and the other of our fouthern. 



LETTER VIII. 83 

It has been faid, that without the conqueft 
of thefe countries, the colonies could not 
have been " protecled, defended, and fecur- 
" ed ;" If that is true, it may with as much 
propriety be faid, that Great-Britain could 
not have been " defended, protecled, and 
" fecured" without that conqueft : for the 
colonies are parts of her empire, which it 
is as much concerns her as them to keep out 
of the hands of any other power. 

But thefe colonies when they were much 
weaker, defended themfelves, before this 
conqueft was made ; and could again do it, 
againft any that might properly be called 
their enemies. If France and Spain indeed 
fhould attack them, as members of the Bri- 
tish empire perhaps they might be diftreffed ; 
but it would be in a Britifh quarrel. 

The largeft account I have feen of the num- 
ber of people in Canada, does not make them 
exceed 90,000. Florida can hardly be said to 

have any inhabitants It is computed that 

there are in our colonies, 3,000,000. — Our 
force therefore muft encreafe with a difpro- 
portion to the growth of their ftrcngth, that 
would render us very fafe. 

This being the ftate of the cafe, I cannot 
think it juft, that thefe colonies, labouring 
under fo many misfortunes, fhould be loaded 
with taxes, to maintain countries not only 
not ufeful, but hurtful to them. The fup- 
port of Canada and Florida coft yearly, it is 
faid, half a million fterling. From hence we 



84 LETTER VIII. 

may make fome guefs of the load that is to 
be laid upon us ; for we are not only to " de- 
" fend, protecl, and fecure " them, but alfo 
to make " an adequate provifion for defray- 
" ing the charge of the administration of 
" juftice and the fupport of civil govern- 
ment, in fuch provinces where it mall be 
" found neceffary." 

Not one of the provinces of Canada, Nova- 
Scotia, or Florida, has ever defrayed thefe 
expences within itfelf : And if the duties im- 
pofed by the laft ftatute are collected, all 
of them together, according to the beft in- 
formation I can get, will not pay one-quar- 
ter as much as Pennfylvania alone. So that 
the Britifh colonies are to be drained of the 
rewards of their labour, to cherifh the 
fcorching fands of Florida, and the icy 
rocks of Canada and Nova-Scotia, which 
never will return to us one farthing that we 
fend to them. 

Great-Britain 1 mean the miniftry in 

Great-Britain, has cantoned Canada and 
Florida out into five or fix governments, 
and may form as many more. She now has 
fourteen or fifteen regiments on this conti- 
nent ; and may fend over as many more. 
To make " an adequate provifion" for all 
thefe expences, is, no doubt, to be the inhe- 
ritance of the colonies. 

Can any man believe that the duties upon 
paper, &c. are the laft that will be laid for 
thefe purposes ? It is in vain to hope, that 
becaufe it is imprudent to lay duties on the 



LETTER VIII. 85 

exportation of manufactures from a mother 
country to colonies, as it may promote ma- 
nufactures among them, that this conlidera- 
tion will prevent them. 

Ambitious, artful men have made the 
meafure popular, and whatever injuftice or 
deftruction will attend it in the opinion of 
the colonifls, at home it will be thought 
juft and falutary. a 

The people of Great-Britain will be told, 
and they have been told, that they are fink- 
ing under an immenfe debt — that great part 
of this debt has been contracted in defend- 
ing the colonies — that thefe are fo ungrate- 
ful and undutiful, that they will not contri- 
bute one mite to its payment — nor even to 
the fupport of the army now kept up for 
their " protection and fecurity " — that they 
are rolling in wealth, and are of fo bold 
and republican a fpirit, that they are aiming 
at independence — that the only way to re- 
tain them in " obedience " is to keep a 
ftrict watch over them, and to draw offpart 
of their riches in taxes — and that every bur- 
den laid upon them is taking off fo much 
from Great-Britain — Thefe alfertions will 
be generally believed, and the people will 
be perfuaded that they cannot be too angry 
with their colonies, as that anger will be 
profitable to themfelves. 

(a) " So credulous, as well as obftinate, are the peo- 
ple in believing every thing, which flatters their pre- 
vailing paflion." Hume's Hift. of England. 



86 LETTER VIII. 

In truth, Great-Britain alone receives any 
benefit from Canada, Nova-Scotia, and 
Florida ; and therefore fhe alone ought to 
maintain them. — The old maxim of the law 
is drawn from reafon and juftice, and never 
could be more properly applied, than in this 
cafe. 

" £>ui Jen fit, commodum, /entire debet et 
onus." 

They who feel the benefit, ought to feel 
the burden. 

A FARMER. 



LETTER IX. 



Beloved Countrymen, 

IH A V E made fome obfervations on the 
purpofes for which money is to be levied 
upon us by the late ad: of parliament. I 
(hall now offer to your confideration fome 
further reflections on that fubject ; and. un- 
lefs I am greatly miftaken, if thefe purpof- 
es are accomplifhed, according to the ex- 
preft intention of the act, they will be found 
effectually to fuperfede that authority in our 
refpective alfemblies, which is moft elfential 
to liberty. The queftion is not whether 
fome branches mall be lopt off — The ax is 
laid to the root of the tree ; and the whole 
body mull infallibly perifh, if we remain idle 
fpectators of the work. 

No free people ever exifted, or ever can 
exift, without, keeping, to ufe a common 
but ftrong expreffion, " the purfe fixings" 
in their own hands. Where this is the cafe, 
they have a conftitutional check upon the 
adminiffration, which may thereby be 
brought into order without violence : but 
where fuch a power is not lodged in the 
people, oppreffton proceeds uncontrouled 
in its career, till the governed, tranfported 



88 L ETTE R IX. 

into rage, feeks redrefs in the midft of blood 
and confufion. 

The elegant and ingenious Mr. Hume, 
fpeaking of the Anglo-Norman government, 
fays " princes and miniflers were too igno- 
rant to be themfelves fenfible of the ad- 
vantages attending an equitable admini- 
ftration ; and there was no eftablifhed 
council or aifembly which could protecl 
the people, and, by withdrawing fup- 
plies, regularly and peaceably admonifh 
the King of his duty, and enfure the ex- 
ecution of the laws." 
Thus this great man, whofe political re- 
flections are fo much admired, makes this 
power one of the foundations of liberty. 

The Engliih hiftory abounds with instan- 
ces, proving that this is the proper and fuc- 
cefsful way to obtain redrefs of grievances. 
How often have Kings and miniflers endea- 
voured to throw off this legal curb upon 
them, by attempting to raife money by a 
variety of inventions, under pretence of law, 
without having recourfe to parliament ? 
And how often have they been brought to 
reafon, and peaceably obliged to do juflice, 
by the exertion of this conftitutional authori- 
ty of the people, vefled in their reprefenta- 
tives ? 

The inhabitants of thefe colonies have on 
numberlefs occafions, reaped the benefits 
of this authority lodged in their affemblies. 



LETTER IX. 89 

It has been for a long time, and now is, 
a conftant inftruftion to all governors, to 
obtain a permanent fupport for the officers 
of government. But as the author of the 
administration of the colonies fays, " this 
' ' order of the crown is generally, if not 
' ' univerfally, rejected by the legiflatures of 
* ' the colonies." 

They perfectly know how much their grie- 
vances would be regarded, if they had no o- 
ther method of engaging attention, than 
by complaining. Thofe who rule, are ex- 
tremely apt to think, well of the conftrudti- 
ons made by themfelves, in fupport of their 
own power. Thefe are frequently errone- 
ous and pernicious to thofe they govern — 
Dry remonftrances, to (hew that fuch con- 
structions are wrong and oppreffive, carry 
very little weight with them, in the opinion 
of perfons, who gratify their own inclinati- 
ons in making thefe constructions. They 
cannot understand the reafoning that oppofes 
their power and defire : but let it be made 
their intereSt to understand fuch reafoning — 
and a wonderful light is inStantly thrown on 
the matter ; and then rejected remonStran- 
ces become as clear as " proof of holy 



writ." * 



The three moft important articles, that 
our afTemblies, or any legiflatures can pro- 
vide for, are, firft the defence of the focie- 

(a) Shakefpeare. 

M 



oo LETTER IX. 

ty : fecondly — the administration of juftice : 
and, thirdly, the fupport of civil government. 

Nothing can properly regulate the ex- 
pence of making provifion for thefe occasi- 
ons, but the neceffities of the fociety ; its a- 
bilities ; the conveniency of the modes of 
levying money among them ; the manner 
in which the laws have been executed ; and 
the conduct of the officers of government ; 
all which are circumftances that cannot pof- 
fibly be properly known, but by the fociety 
itfelf ; or, if they mould be known, will 
not, probably, be properly conlidered, but 
by that fociety. 

If money may be raifed upon us, by o- 
thers, without our confent, for our " de- 
" fence," thofe who are the judges in levy- 
ing it, mull alfo be the judges in applying 
it. Of confequence, the money faid to be 
taken from us for our defence, may be em- 
ployed to our injury. We may be chained 
in by a line of fortifications : obliged to pay 
for building and maintaining them ; and be 
told that they are for our defence. With what 
face can we difpute the fact, after having 
granted, that thofe who apply the money, 
had a right to levy it ; for, furely, it is 
much eafier for their wifdom to underftand 
how to apply it in the belt manner, than 
how to levy it in the befl: manner. Befides, 
the right of levying is of infinitely more 
confequence, than that of applying it. The 
people of England, that would burfl out in- 



LETTER IX. 91 

to fury, if the crown Should attempt to le- 
vy money by its own authority, have aflign- 
ed to the crown the application of money. 

As to " the administration of juStice" — the 
judges ought, in a well regulated State, to 
be equally independant of the legillative 
powers. Thus, in England, judges hold 
their commiflions from the crown " during 
" good behaviour ;" and have falaries, Suit- 
able to their dignity, fettled on them by 
parliament. The purity of the courts of 
law, fince this establishment, is a proof of 
the wifdom with which it was made. 

But, in thefe colonies, how fruitlefs has 
been every attempt to have the judges ap- 
pointed during good behaviour ; yet whoe- 
ver confiders the matter will foon perceive, 
that fuch commiSfions are beyond all com- 
parifon more neceSfary in thefe colonies, than 
they are in England. 

The chief danger to the fubjedr. there, a- 
rofe from the arbitrary defigns of the crown ; 
but here, the time may come, when we 
may have to contend with the deligns of the 
crown, and of a mighty kingdom. What 
then will be our chance, when the laws of 
life and death, are to be fpoken by judges, 
totally dependant on that crown and king- 
dom — fent over, perhaps, from thence — 
filled with British prejudice — and backed by 
a Standing army, fupported out of our own 
pockets, to " aSfert and maintain" our own 
" dependance and obedience 

M 2 



92 LETTER IX. 

But fuppoling, that through the extreme 
lenity that will prevail in the government, 
through all future ages, thefe colonies never 
will behold any thing like the campaign of 
chief juftice Jeffereys, yet what innumerable 
acls of injuftice may be committed, and 
how fatally may the principles of liberty be 
fapped by a fucceffion of judges utterly in- 
dependant of the people? Before fuch judges, 
the fupple wretches, who cheerfully join in 
avo wing fentimentsinconfiftent with freedom, 
will always meet with fmiles : while the ho- 
neft and brave men, who difdain to facrifice 
their native land to their own advantage, but 
on every occafion, boldly vindicate her caufe, 
will conftantly be regarded with frowns. 

There are two other coniiderations, re- 
lating to this head, that deferve the moft 
ferious attention. 

By the late acf the officers of the cuftoms 
are impowered " to enter into any houfe, 
" warehoufe, fhop, cellar, or other place, 
" in the Britifh colonies or plantations in 
" America, to fearch for, or feize prohibited 
" or unaccuftomed goods," &c. on " writs 
" granted by the inferior or fupreme court 
" of juftice, having jurifdiclion within fuch 
" colony or plantation refpectively." 

If we only reflecT: that the judges of thefe 
courts are to be during pleafure — that they 
are to have " adequate provi/ion" made 
for them, which is to continue during their 
complifant behaviour — that they may be 



LETTER IX. 93 

sftranger to thefe colonies — what an engine 
of oppreffion may this authority be in fuch 
hands ? 

I am well aware that writs of this kind 
may be granted at home, under the feal of 
the court of exchequer : But I know alfo 
that the greater!: aflerters of the rights of 
Englishmen, have always ftrenuoufly contend- 
ed, that fuch a power was dangerous to free- 
dom, and exprefsly contrary to the common 
law, which ever regarded a man's houfe, as 
his caftle, or a place of perfect fecurity. 

If fuch a power is in the leaft degree dan- 
gerous there, it muft be utterly deftructive 
to liberty here. — For the people there have 
two fecurities againft the undue exercife of 
this power by the crown, which are want- 
ing with us, if the late act takes place. In 
the firft place, if any injustice is done there, 
the perfon injured may bring his action 
againft the offender, and have it tried by 
independant judges, who are b no parties in 
committing the injury. Here he muft have 
it tried before dependant judges, being the 
men who granted the writ. 

To fay that the caufe is to be tried by a 
jury can never reconcile men, who have any 
idea of freedom to fuch a power. — For we 
know, that (heriffs in almoft every colony 

(J>) The writs for fearching houfes in England are to 
be granted under the feal of the court of exchequer, 
according to the ftatute — and that feal is kept by the 
chancellor of the exchequer. 4 Inft. 



94 LETTER IX. 

on this continent, are totally dependant on 
the crown; and packing of juries has been 
frequently pradtifed even in the capital of 
the Britiih empire. Even if juries are 
well inclined, we have too many instances 
of the influence of overbearing unjuft 
judges upon them. The brave and wife 
men who accomplished the revolution, 
thought the independency of judges ellential 
to freedom. 

The other fecurity which the people have 
at home, but which we (hall want here, is 
this. — If this power is abufed there, the par- 
liament, the grand refource of the oppreft 
people, is ready to afford relief. Redrefs of 
grievances mull precede grants of money. 
But what regard can we expedt to have 
paid to our aifemblies, when they will not 
hold even the puny privilege of French par- 
liaments that of registering the edicfs, 

that take away our money, before they are 
put in execution. 

The fecond consideration above hinted at, 
is this — There is a confulion in our laws that 
is quite unknown in Great-Britain. As this 
cannot be defcribed in a more clear or ex- 
adt manner, than has been done by the inge- 
nious author of the hiftory of New-York, I 
beg leave to ufe his words. " The ftate of 
our laws opens a door to muchcon troverfy. 
The uncertainty which refpedt them, ren- 
ders property precarious, and greatly expo- 
fes us to the arbitrary decifion of unjuft judg- 



LETTER IX. 95 

es. The common law of England is gene- 
rally received, together with fuch Statutes, 
as were enacted before we had a legislature 
of our own ; but our courts exercile a fove- 
reign authority, in determining what parts 
of the common and Statute law ought to be 
extended : For it muft be admitted, that the 
difference ofcircumSfancesnecelfarily requires 
us, in fome cases, to reject the determinati- 
on of both. In many inftances they have al- 
fo extended even acts of parliament, palled 
lince we had a diftindt legislature, which is 
greatly adding to our confufion. The prac- 
tice of our courts is no lefs uncertain than 
the law. Some of the English rules are a- 
dopted, others rejected. Two things there- 
fore feem to be absolutely necelTary for the 
public fecurity. Firft the palling an act for 
fettling the extent of the English laws. Se- 
condly, that the courts ordain a general fet 
of rules for the regulation of the practice." 
How ealy will it be under this " Slate of 
" our laws" for an artful judge to act in 
the moSt arbitrary manner, and yet cover his 
conduct under fpecious pretences, and how 
difficult will it be for the injured people to 
obtain redrefs, may be readily perceived. We 
may take a voyage of three thoufand miles 
to complain ; and after the trouble and ha- 
zard we have undergone, we may be told, 
that the collection of the revenue and main- 
tenance of the prerogative, muSt not be dis- 
couraged. And if the misbehaviour is fo 



96 LETTER IX. 

grofs as to admit of no justification, it may 
be faid that it was an error in judgment on- 
ly, arifing from the confufion of our laws, 
and the zeal of the King's fervants to do 
their duty. 

If the commiffions of judges are during 
the pleafure of the crown, yet if their fala- 
ries are during the pleasure of the people, 
there will be fome check upon their conduct. 
Few men will confent to draw on themfelves 
the hatred and contempt of those among 
whom we live, for the empty honour of 
being judges. It is the fordid love of 
gain that tempts men to turn their backs on 
virtue, and pay their homage where they 
ought not. 

As to the third particular, the " fupport 
"of civil government," few words will be 
fufficient. Every man of the leaft under- 
Handing mull know, that the executive power 
may be exercifed in a manner fo difagreeable 
and harafiing to the people, that it is abfol- 
utely requifite, they mould be enabled by the 
gentleft method which human policy has yet 
been ingenious enough to invent, that is by 
the Shutting their hands, to " admonifh " 
(as Mr. Hume fays) certain perfons " of 
" their duty." 

What mall we now think, when, upon 
looking into the late act, we find the afTem- 
blies of thefe provinces thereby ftript of their 
authority on thefe feveral heads ? The de- 
clared intention of that acf is, " that a reve- 



LETTER IX. 97 

nue fhould be raifed in his Majefty's domini- 
ons in America, for making a more certain 
and adequate provifion for defraying the 
charge of the adminiftration of juftice, and 
the fupport of civil government, in fuch pro- 
vinces where it (hall be found neceffary ; and 
towards further defraying the expences of 
defending, protecting, and fecuring the faid 
dominions," &c. 

Let the reader paufe here one moment, 
and reflect — whether the colony in which he 
lives, has not made fuch " certain and ade- 
" quate proviiions" for thefe purpofes, as 
is by the colony judged fuitable to its abili- 
ties, and all other circumftances. Then let 
him reflect — whether, if this act takes place, 
money is not to be raifed on that colony 
without its confent to make provilion for 
thefe purpofes, which it does not judge to 
be fuitable to its abilities, and all other cir- 
cumftances. Laftly, let him reflect — whe- 
ther the people of that country are not in 
a ftate of the moft abject flavery, whofe 
property may be taken from them under the 
notion of right, when they have refufed to 
give it. For my part, I think I have good 
reafon for vindicating the honour of the af- 
femblies on this continent, by publicly affert- 
ing, that they have made as " certain and 
"adequate provifion" for the purpofes a- 
bove-mentioned, as they ought to have 
made ; and that it fhould not be prefumed, 
that they will not do it hereafter. Why then 

N 



98 LETTER IX. 

fhould thefe moll; important truths be 
wrefted out of their hands ? Why mould 
they not now be permitted to enjoy that 
authority, which they have exercifed from 
the firft fettlement of thefe colonies ? Why 
mould they be fcandalized by this innovati- 
on, when their refpedlive provinces are now, 
and will be for feveral years, labouring un- 
der loads of debts impofed on them for the 
very purpofes now fpoken of ? Why Ihould 
the inhabitants of all thefe colonies be with 
the utmoft indignity treated, as a herd of 
defpicable wretches, fo utterly void of com- 
mon fenfe, that they will not even make 
" adequate provilion" for the " admini- 
" fixation of juftice" and " the fupport of 
" civil government" among them, for their 
" own defence" — though without fuch 
" provision" every people mull: inevitably 
be overwhelmed with anarchy and deftructi- 
on ? Is it poffible to form an idea of flavery 
more complete, more miferable, more dil- 
graceful, than that of a people, where jus- 
tice is administered, government exercifed, 
and a Standing army maintained, at the ex- 
pence of the people, and yet without the 
leaft dependance upon them ? If we can find 
no relief from this infamous fituation, let 
Mr. Grenville fet his fertile fancy again to 
work, and as by one exertion of it, he has 
Stripped us of our property and liberty, let 
him by another deprive us of our understand- 
ing too, that unconfcious of what we have 



LETTER IX. 99 

been or are, and ungoaded by tormenting 
reflections, we may tamely bow down our 
necks with all the ftupid ferenity of fervitude, 
to any drudgery, which our lords and ma- 
ilers may pleafe to command. — 

When the " charges of the administration 
of juftice," — " the fupport of civil govern- 
ment ;" — and " the expences of defending 
" protecting and fecuring" us, are provid- 
ed for, I fhould be glad to know upon what 
occafion the crown will ever call our affem- 
blies together. Some few of them may 
meet of their own accord, by virtue of their 
charters : But what will they have to do 
when they are met ? To what fhadows will 
they be reduced ? The men, whofe delibera- 
tions heretofore had an influence on every 
matter relating to the liberty and happinefs 
of themfelves and their conftituents, and 
whofe authority in domeftic affairs, at leaft, 
might well be compared to that of Roman 
fenators, will now find their deliberations of 
no more confequence than thofe of confta- 
bles. — They may perhaps be allowed to 
make laws for yoking of hogs, or pounding 
of ftray cattle. Their influence will hardly 
be permitted to extend fo high as the keep- 
ing roads in repair, as that bulinefs may more 
properly be executed by thofe who receive 
the public cam. 

One mofl memorable example in hiftory 
is fo applicable to the point now infifted on, 



L.oFC. 



ioo LETTER IX. 

that it will form a juft conclufion of the ob- 
fervations that have been made. 

Spain was once free. Their Cortes refem- 
bled our parliament. No money could be 
raifed on the fubjecl, without their confent. 
One of their Kings having received a grant 
from them to maintain a war againft the 
Moors, defired, that if the fum which they 
had given, mould not be fufficient, he 
might be allowed for that emergency only, 
to have more money, without aiTembling the 
Cortes. The requeft was violently oppofed 
by the belt, and wifeft men in the aflembly. 
It was however, complied with by the votes 
of a majority ; and this fingle conceffion 
was a precedent for other conceffions of the 
like kinds, until, at laft, the crown obtained 
a general power for railing money in cafes 
of neceffity. From that period the Cortes 
ceafed to be ufeful, and the people ceafed to 
be free. 

Venienti occurrite tnorbo. 

Oppofe a difeafe at its beginning. — 

A FARMER. 



LETTER X . 



Beloved Countrymen, 

THE confequences, mentioned in the laft 
letter, will not be the utmoft limits of 
our mifery and infamy. We feel too fenfibly 
that any a minifterial meafures, relating to 
thefe colonies, are foon carried fuccefsfully 
thro' the parliament. Certain prejudices o- 
perate there fo ftrongly againft us, that it 
might juftly be queftioned, whether all the 
provinces united, will ever be able effectually 
to call to an account, before the parliament, 
any minifter who fhall abufe the power by 
the late acf given to the crown in America. 
He may divide the fpoils torn from us, in 
what manner he pleafes ; and we fhall have 
no way of making him refponlible. If he 
fhould order, that every Governor, fhould 
have a yearly falary of 5000/. fterling, eve- 
ry chief juftice of 3000/. every inferior offi- 

(ci) The gentleman muft not wonder he was not con- 
tradicted, when, as the minifter, he aflerted the right of 
parliament to tax America. I know not how it is, but 
there is a modefty in this houfe, which does not chufe to 
contradict a minifter. I with gentlemen would get the 
better of that modefty. If they do not, perhaps the 
collective body may begin to abate of its refpect for the 
reprefentative. Mr. Pitt's fpeech. 



102 L ETT E R X. 

cer in proportion ; and fhould then reward 
the moil profligate, ignorant, or needy de- 
pendants on himfelf, or his friends with pla- 
ces of the greateft truft becaufe they were 
of the greateft profit, this would be called 
an arrangement in confequence of the " a- 
" dequate provifion for defraying the charge 
" of the administration ofjuftice, and the fup- 
" port of the civil government." And if the 
taxes fhould prove at any time infufficient to 
anfwer all the expences of the numberlefs 
offices, which minifters may pleafe to create, 
furely the houfe of Commons would be too 
" modeft" to contradict a minifter who (hould 
tell them, it was become neceflary to lay a 
new tax upon the colonies, for the laudable 
purpofe of " defraying the charges of the 
" adminiftration of juftice, and the fupport 
" of civil government" among them. Thus 
in fad: we fhall be taxed by minifters. b 

We may perceive, from the example of 
Ireland, how eager minifters are to feize up- 
on any fettled revenue, and apply it in fup- 

porting their own power. Happy are the 

men, and happy are the people, who grow 
wife by the misfortune of others. Earneft- 
ly, my dear countrymen, do I befeech the 
author of all good gifts, that you may grow 
wife in this manner : And, if I may be al- 

(£) " Within this a<3, (Jlatute de tallag'w non concedendo) 
are all new offices eredted with new fees, or old offices 
with new fees, for that is a tallage put upon the fub- 
jecTt, which cannot be done without common aflent by 
aft of parliament." 2 Inrt. 533. 



LETTER X . 103 

lowed to take the liberty, I beg leave to re- 
commend to you in general, as the beft me- 
thod of obtaining wifdom, diligently to ftu- 
dy the hiftories of other countries. You will 
there find all the arts, that can pofiibly be 
practiced by cunning rulers, or falfe patri- 
ots among yourfelves, fo fully delineated, 
that changing names, the account would 
ferve for your own times. 

It is pretty well known on this continent, 
that Ireland has, with a regular coniiftence 
of injustice, been cruelly treated by minifters 
in the article of penfions ; but there are 
fome alarming circumft ances relating to that 
fubject, which I wifli to have better known 
among us. 

c The revenue of the crown there, arifes 
principally from the excife granted " for 
" pay of the army, and defraying other 
" public charges in defence and prefervation 
" of the kingdom " — from the tonnage and 
additional poundage granted " for protecl- 
" ing the trade of the kingdom at fea, and 
" augmenting the public revenue" from the 
hearth-money granted, as a " public re- 
" venue for public charges and expences." 
There are fome other branches of the reve- 
nue, concerning which there is not any ex- 
prefs appropriation of them for public fer- 
vice, but which were plainly fo intended. 

(f) " An enquiry into the legality of the penfions on 
the Irifh establishment, by Alexander M'Auley, Efq ; one 
of the King's Council, &c. 



io4 LETTER X. 

Of thefe branches of the revenue, the 
crown is only a truftee for the public. They 
are unalienable ; they are inapplicable to 
any other purpofes, but thofe for which 
they were eftabli (lied; and therefore are not 
legally chargeable with penfions. 

There is another kind of revenue, which 
is a private revenue. This is not limited to 
any public ufes ; but the crown has the fame 
property in it, that any perfon has in his 
eftate. This does not amount at the moft 
to fifteen thoufand pounds a year, probably 
not to feven ; and it is the only revenue that 
can legally be charged with penfions. If mini- 
fters were accuftomed to regard the rights 
or happinefs of the people, the penfions in 
Ireland would not exceed the fum jufi: menti- 
oned : but long fince have they exceeded 
that limit, and in December, 1765, a moti- 
on was made in the Houfe of Commons in 
that kingdom, to addrefs his Majefiy, on 
the great increafe of penfions on the Irifh 
eftablifhment, amounting to the fum of 
^.158,685 in the lafl two years. 

Attempts have been made to glofs over 
thefe grofs incroachments, by this fpecious 
argument, — "That expending a competent 
" part of the public revenue in penfions, 
" from a principle of charity or generofity, 
" adds to the dignity of the crown, and is, 
" therefore, ufeful to the public." To give 
this argument any weight, it muft appear 
that the penfions proceed from "charity 



LETTER X. 105 

" or generofity " only — And that it " adds 
" to the dignity of the crown " to act di- 
rectly contrary to law. 

From this conduit towards Ireland, in 
open violation of law, we may eafily fore- 
fee what we may expect, when a minifter 
will have the whole revenue of America, 
in his own hands, to be difpofed of at his 
own pleafure. For all the monies raifed by 
the late act are to be " applied, by virtue 
" of warrants under the fign manual, coun- 
" terfigned by the high treafurer, or any 
" three of the commiffioners of the trea- 
" fury." The " reiidue " indeed, is to be 
paid " into the receipt of the exchequer, 
" and to be difpofed of by parliament." 
So that a minifter will have nothing to do 
but to take care that there (hall be no " re- 
" fidue," and he is fuperior to all controul. 

Beiides the burden of peniions in Ireland, 
which have enormoufly encreafed within 
theie few years, almoft all the offices, in 
that poor kingdom, have, lince the com- 
mencement of the prefent century, and now 
are beftowed upon ftrangers. For though 
the merit of thofe born there juftly raifes 
them to places of high truft, when they go 
abroad, as all Europe can witnefs, yet he 
is an uncommonly lucky Irifhman, who can 
get a good poft in his native country. 



O 



106 LETTER X . 

When I confider the d manner in which 
that iiland has been uniformly deprelfed for lb 
many years pall, with this pernicious parti- 

(d) In Charles II's time, the Houfe of Commons, in- 
fluenced by fome factious demagogues, were refolved to 
prohibit the importation of Irifh cattle into England. 
Among other arguments in favour of Ireland, it was in- 
filled " That by cutting off" almoft entirely the trade 
between the kingdoms, all the natural bands of union 
were diflblved, and nothing remained to keep the Irifh 
in their duty, but force and violence. 

" The King (fays Mr. Hume in his Hiftory of England) 
" was fo convinced of the juftice of thefe reafons, that 
" he ufed all his intereft to oppofe the bill, and he o- 
M penly declared, that he could not give his aflent to it 
" with a fafe confcience. But the Commons were refo- 
" lute in their purpofe. And the fpirit of tyranny, of 
" which nations are as fufceptible as individuals, had 
" animated the Englifh extremely to exert their fuperi- 
" ority over their dependant ftate. No affair could be 
" conducted with greater violence that this, by the 
" Commons. They even went fo far in the preamble 
" of the bill, as to declare the importation of Irifh cat- 
" tie to be a nuifance. By this expreflion they gave 
" fcope to their paflion, and at the fame time, barred 
" the King's prerogative, by which he might think him- 
" felf intitled to dilpenfe with a law fo full of injuftice 
" and bad policy. The lords expunged the word, but 
" as the King was fenfible that no fupply would be giv- 
" en by the Commons, unlefs they were gratified in all 
" their prejudices, he was obliged both to employ his 
" intereft with the Peers to make the bill pafs, and to 
" give the Royal aflent to it. He could not however for- 
" bear exprefling his difpleafure, at the jealoufy enter- 
" tained againft him, and at the intention which the 
" Commons difcovered of retrenching his prerogative." 

This law brought great diftrefs for fometime upon Ire- 
land, but it occafioned their applying with great induf- 
try to manufactures, and has proved, in the ifTue, bene- 
ficial to that kingdom. 

Perhaps the fame reafon occafioned the " barring the 
" King's prerogative " in the late adt. fufpending the le- 
giflation of New- York. 



LETTER X. 107 

cularity of their parliament continuing c as 
long as the crown pleafes, I am aftonifhed 
to obferve fuch a love of liberty Mill animat- 
ing that loyal and generous nation ; and 
nothing can raife higher my idea of the 
integrity and public fpirit of the people f 

This we may be allured of, that we are as dear to his 
Majefly, as the people of Great-Britain are. We are his 
fubjedls as well as they, and as faithful fubje&s ; and 
his Majefty has given too many, too conftant proofs of his 
piety and virtue, for any man, to think it poffible, that 
fuch a Prince can make any unjuft diftin£tion between 
fuch fubje£ts. It makes no difference to his Majefty, 
whether fupplies are raifed in Great-Britain, or Ameri- 
ca : but it makes fome difference, to the Commons of 
that kingdom. 

To fpeak plainly as becomes an honeft man on fuch 
important occafions, all our misfortunes are owing to a 
luft of power in men of abilities and influence. This 
prompts them to feek popularity, by expedients profita- 
ble to themfelves, though ever fo deftructive to their 
country. 

Such is the accurfed nature of lawlefs ambition, and 
yet — what heart but melts at the thought ? — Such falfe 
deteftable patriots in every nation have led their blind 
confiding country, fhouting their applaufes, into the 
jaws of fhame and ruin. May the wifdom and goodnefs 
of the people of Great-Britain, fave them from the ufu- 
al fate of nations. 

(e) The laft Irifh parliament continued thirty-three 
years, that is during all the late reign. The prefent 
parliament there, has continued from the beginning of 
this reign ; and probably will continue to the end. 

(_/") I am informed, that within thefe few years, a pe- 
tition was prefented to the Houfe of Commons in Great- 
Britain, fetting forth, " that herrings were imported 
" into Ireland, from fome foreign parts of the north fo 
" cheap, as to difcourage the Britifh herring fifhery, 
" and therefore praying, that fome remedy might be 
" applied in that behalf by parliament " — " That, upon 
" this petition, the Houfe refolved to impofe a duty of 
" two (hillings fterling on every barrel of foreign her- 



108 LETTER X . 

who have preferved the facred fire of free- 
dom from being extinguished though the 
altar, on which it burned, has been thrown 
down. 

In the fame manner (hall we unqueftion- 
ably be treated, as foon as the late taxes, 
laid upon us, (hall make pofts in the " go- 
" vernment," and the " administration of 
"juflice, here, worth the attention of per- 
fons of influence in Great Britain. We know 
enough already to satisfy us of this truth. 
But this will not be the worft part of our 
cafe. 

The principals in all great offices will re- 
fide in England, make fome paltry allowance 
to deputies for doing the bufinefs here. 
Let any man confider what an exhaufting 
drain this mud be upon us, when minifters 
are poflefied of the power of affixing what 

" rings imported into Ireland, but afterwards dropt the 
" affair, for fear of engaging in a difpute with Ireland 
" about the right of taxing her." 

So much higher was the opinion, which the Houfe 
entertained of the fpirit of Ireland, than of that of thefe 
colonies. 

I find in the laft Engliih papers, that the refolution 
and firmnefs with which the people of that kingdom 
have lately afTerted their freedom, have been fo alarm- 
ing in Great-Britain, that the Lord Lieutenant in his 
fpeech on the 20th of laft October, " recommended " to 
the parliament, " that fuch provifion may be made for 
" fecuring the judges in the enjoyment of their offices 
" and appointments during their good behaviour, as 
" (hall be thought moft expedient." 

What an important conceflion is thus obtained by 
making demands becoming freemen, with a courage 
and perfeverance becoming freemen. 



LETTER X. 109 

falaries they pleafe to polls, and he mull be 
convinced how deftructive the late adt mull 
be. The injured kingdom, lately mention- 
ed, can tell us the mifchiefs of abfentees ; 
and we may perceive already the fame dif- 
polition taking place with us. The govern- 
ment of New York has been exercifed by 
a deputy. That of Virginia is now held 
fo ; and we know of a number of fecre- 
taryfhips, colledlorships, and other offices 
held in the fame manner. 

True it is, that if the people of Great- 
Britain were not too much blinded by the 
paffions, that have been artfully excited in 
their brealls, againll their dutiful children, 
the coloniils, thefe confiderations would be 
nearly as alarming to them as to us. The 
influence of the crown was thought, by wife 
men many years ago, too great, by reafon 
of the multitude of penfions and places be- 
llowed by it ; thefe have vailly increafed 
iince g and perhaps it would be no difficult 

(g) One of the reafons urged by that great and ho- 
neft ftatesman, Sir William Temple, to Charles II. in 
his famous remonftrance to difluade him from aiming at 
arbitrary power, was, the " King had few offices to be- 
« ftow." Hume's Hift. of England. 

" Though the wings of prerogative have been dipt, 
" the influence of the crown is greater than ever it was 
" in any period of our hiftory. For when we confider 
" in how many burroughs the government has the voters 
" at command, when we confider the vaft body of per- 
" fons employed in the collection of the revenue in e- 
" very part of the kingdom, the inconceivable num- 
" ber of placemen, and candidates for places in the 



no L ETT E R X . 

matter to prove that the people have de- 
creafed. 

Surely, therefore, thofe who wifh the wel- 
fare of their country, ought feriously to re- 
flect what may be the confequence of fuch a 
new creation of offices, in the difpofal of the 
crown. The army, the adminiflxation of 
juftice, and the civil government here, with 
fuch falaries as the crown mall pleafe to an- 
nex, will extend minifterial influence, as 
much beyond its former bounds, as the late 
war did the Britiih dominions. 

But whatever the people of Great-Britain 
may think on this occalion, I hope the peo- 
ple of thefe colonies will unanimoufly join in 
this fentiment, that the late act of parlia- 
ment is injurious to their liberty ; and that 
this fentiment will unite them in a firm op- 

" cuftoms, in the excife, in the poft-office, in the 
" dock-yards, in the ordnance, in the falt-office, in 
" the ftamps, in the navy and victualling offices, 
" and in a variety of other departments ; when we 
" confider again the extenfive influence of the mo- 
" ney corporations, fubfcription jobbers, and contractors: 
" the endlefs dependance created by the obligations 
" conferred on the bulk of the gentlemen's families 
" throughout the kingdom, who have relations preferred 
" in our navy and numerous (landing army ; when, I 
" fay, we confider how wide, how binding, a depen- 
" dance on the crown is created by the above enume- 
" rated particulars ; and the great, the enormous 
" weight and influence which the crown derives from 
" this extenfive dependance upon its favour and power ; 
" any lord in waiting, any lord of the bedchamber, a- 
" ny man may be appointed minifter." 

" A doctrine to this effeft is faid to have been the ad- 
" vice of L H " Late News papers. 



LETTER X. in 

pofition to it, in the fame manner as the 
dread of the Stamp-ail did. 

Some perfons may imagine the fums to be 
raifed by it, are but fmall, and therefore 
may be inclined to acquiefce under it. A 
conduct more dangerous to freedom, as be- 
fore has been obferved, can never be adopt- 
ed. Nothing is wanted at home but a pre- 
cedent, the force of which fhall be eftabliuh- 
ed, by the tacit fubmiffion of the colonies. 
With what zeal was the ftatute erecting the 
port-office, and another relating to the reco- 
very of debts in America, urged and tortur- 
ed, as precedents in thefupport of the Stamp- 
adl, though wholly inapplicable. If the par- 
liament fucceeds in this attempt, other fla- 
tutes will impofe other duties. Inftead of 
taxing ourfeives as we have been accuftomed 
to do from the firft fettlement of thefe pro- 
vinces ; all our ufeful taxes will be convert- 
ed into parliamentary taxes on our importa- 
tions ; and thus the parliament will levy up- 
on us fuch fums of money as they chufe to 
take, without any other limitation than their 
pleafure. 

We know how much labour and care 
have been beftowed by thefe colonies, in lay- 
ing taxes in fuch a manner, that they mould 
be molt eafy to the people, by being laid on 
the proper articles ; mod equal, by being 
proportioned to every man's circumstances ; 
and cheapeft by the method directed for 
collecting them. 



ii2 LETTER X. 

But parliamentary taxes will be laid on us 
without any coniideration, whether there is 
any easlier mode. The only point regarded 
will be, the certainty of levying the taxes, 
and not the convenience of the people, on 
whom they are to be levied, and therefore 
all ftatutes on this head will be fuch as will 
be moft likely, according to the favourite 
phrafe, "to execute themfelves." 

Taxes in every free ftate have been, and 
ought to be as exactly proportioned, as is 
poffible, to the abilities of thofe who are to 
pay them. They cannot otherwife be juft. 
Even a Hottentot could comprehend the un- 
reafonablenefs, of making a poor man pay as 
much for defending the property of a rich 
man, as the rich man pays himfelf. 

Let any perfon look into the late acT: of 
parliament, and he will immediately perceive, 
that the immenfe eftates of Lord Fairfax, 
Lord Baltimore, 11 and our proprietors, which 
are amongft: " his Majefty's other domini- 
" ons " to be " defended, protected and fe- 
" cured " by that acl: will not pay a (ingle 
farthing of the duties thereby impofed, ex- 
cept Lord Fairfax wants fome of his win- 
dows glazed. Lord Baltimore, and our pro- 

(h) The people of Maryland and Pennfylvania have 
been engaged in the warmeft difputes, in order to ob- 
tain an equal and juft taxation of their proprietors e- 
ftates ; but the late aft does more for thefe proprietors 
than they themfelves would venture to demand. It to- 
tally exempts them from taxation. 



LETTER X. 113 

prietors are quite fecure, as they live in 
England. 

I mention thefe particular cafes as fink- 
ing instances, how far the late aft is a devi- 
ation from that principle of juftice, which has 
fo constantly diftinguifhed our own laws on 
this continent. 

The third confideration with our conti- 
nental aifemblies in laying taxes has been 
the method of collecting them. This has 
been done by a few officers under the infpec- 
tion of the refpeftive aifemblies, with mode- 
rate allowances. No more was raifed from 
the fubjeft, than was ufed for the intended 
purpofes. But by the late aft, a minifler 
may appoint as many officers as he pleafes 
for collecting the taxes; may affign them 
what falaries he thinks "adequate " and 
they are to be fubjeft to no infpeftion but 
his own. 

In fhort, if the late act of parliament 
takes effect, thefe colonies rnufr. dwindle down 
into " common corporations," as their e- 
nemies in the debates concerning the repeal 
of the Stamp-aft, ffrenuously iniifted they 
were : and it is not improbable, that fome 
future hiftorians will thus record our fall. 

" The eighth year of this reign was dif- 
tinguifhed by a very memorable event, the 
American colonies then Submitting for the 
firft time, to be taxed by the Britifh parlia- 
ment. An attempt of this kind had been 
made two years before, but was defeated by 

P 



ii 4 LETTER X. 

the vigorous exertions ofthefeveral provinces 
in defence of their liberties. Their behavi- 
our on that occafion rendered their name 
very celebrated for a fhort time all over Eu- 
rope ; all ftates being extremely attentive 
to a difpute between Great-Britain and fo 
considerable a part of her dominions. For 
as fhe was thought to be grown too power- 
ful by the fuccefsful conclulion of the late 
war fhe had been engaged in, it was hoped 
by many, that as it had happened before to 
other kingdoms, civil difcords would afford 
opportunities of revenging all the injuries 
fuppofed to be received from her. How- 
ever the caufe of diffention was removed by 
a repeal of the ftatute, that had given of- 
fenfe. This affair rendered the fubmiffive 
conduit of the colonies fo foon after, the 
more extraordinary ; there being no differ- 
ence between the modes of taxation which 
they oppofed, and that to which they fub- 
mitted, but this, that by the firft, they were 
to be continually reminded that they were 
taxed, by certain marks ftampt on every 
piece of paper or parchment, they ufed. 
The authors of that ftatute triumphed 
greatly on this conduct of the colonies, and 
inlifted that if the people of Great-Britain, 
had perfifted in enforcing it, the Americans 
would have been in a few months fo fatigued 
with the efforts of patriotifm, that they 
would quickly have yielded obedience. 



LETTE R X. 115 

" Certain it is, that though they had be- 
fore their eyes fo many illuftrious examples 
in their mother country, of the conftant fuc- 
cefs attending firmnefs and perfeverance in 
oppoiition to dangerous encroachments on 
liberty, yet they quietly gave up a point of 
the lafl importance. From thence the de- 
cline of their freedom began, and its decay 
was extremely rapid ; for as money was al- 
ways raifed upon them by the parliament, 
their alfemblies grew immediately ufelefs and 
in a fhort time contemptible; and in lefs 
than one hundred years, the people funk 
down into that tamenefs and fupinenefs of 
fpirit by which they fUll continue to be dif- 
tinguiihed." 

Et majores vejiros et pojleros cogitate. 

Remember your ancestors and your posterity. 

A FARMER. 



LETTER XI. 

Beloved Countrymen, 

I HAVE feveral times, in the courfe of 
thefe letters, mentioned the late acl of 
parliament, as being the foundation of fu- 
ture meafures injurious to thefe colonies ; 
and the belief of this truth I wifh to pre- 
vail, becaufe I think it neceffary to our 
fafety. 

A perpetual jealoufy refpecling liberty, \ 
is abfolutely requiiite in all free Hates. ' 
The very texture of their constitution, in 
mixt governments, demands it. For the 
cautions with which power is distributed a- 
mong the feveral orders, imply, that each 
has that mare which is proper for the gene- 
al welfare, and therefore, that any further 
impofition mull: be pernicious. a Machiavel 
employs a whole chapter in his difcourfes, 
to prove that a ftate, to be long lived, mull 
be frequently corrected, and reduced to its 
firft. principles. But of all dates that have 
exifted, there never was any, in which this 
jealoufy could be more proper than in thefe 
colonies. For the government here is not 
only mixt, but dependant, which circum- 

(a) Machiavel's difcourfes. Book 3, chap. 1. 



n8 LETTER XI . 

fiance occaiions a peculiarity in its form, of 
a very delicate nature. 

Two reafons induce me to defire, that 
this fpirit of apprehenlion may be always 
kept up among us, in its utmoft vigilance. 
The firft is this, that as the happinefs of thefe 
provinces indubitably conlifts in their con- 
nection with Great-Britain, any feparation 
between them is lefs likely to be occalioned 
by civil difcords, if every difgufting mea- 
fure is oppofed fingly, and while it is new : 
for in this manner of proceeding, every fuch 
meafure is mofl likely to be rectified. On 
the other hand, oppremons and dilfatisfac- 
tions being permitted to accumulate — if 
ever the governed throw off the load, they 
will do more. A people does not reform 
with moderation. The rights of the fub- 
jecl therefore cannot be too often consider- 
ed, explained, or aiferted : and whoever 
attempts to do this, (hews himfelf, what- 
ever may be the ram and peevifh reflections 
of pretended wifdom, and pretended duty, 
a friend to thofe who injudicioufly exercife 
their power, as well as to them, over whom 
it is fo exercifed. 

Had all the points of prerogative claimed 
by Charles I. been feparately contefted and 
fettled in preceding reigns, his fate would 
in all probability have been very different, 
and the people would have been content with 
that liberty which is compatible with regal 



LETTER XI. 119 

authority. But b he thought, it would be as 
dangerous for him to give up the powers 
which at any time had been by ufurpation ex- 
ercifed by the crown, as thofe that were 
legally verted in it. This produced an equal 
excefs on the part of the people. For when 
their paflions were excited by multiplied 
grievances, they thought it would be as 
dangerous for them, to allow the powers 
that were legally vetted in the crown, as 
thofe which at any time had been by ufur- 
pation exercifed by it. Acts, that might 
by themfelves have been upon many con- 
siderations excufed or extenuated, derived a 
contagious malignancy and odium from 
other acts, with which they were connected. 
They were not regarded according to the 
iimple force of each, but as parts of a 
fyftem of oppreflion. Every one therefore, 
however fmall in itfelf, being alarming, as 
an additional evidence of tyrannical deligns. 
It was in vain for prudent and moderate 
men to iniift, that there was no neceffity to 
abolifh royalty. Nothing lefs than the utter 

(£) The author is fenfible that this is putting the 
gentleft conftru£tion on Charles' conduit ; and that is 
one reafon why he chufes it. Allowance ought to be 
made for the errors of thofe men, who are acknow- 
ledged to have been poflefled of many virtues. The e- 
ducation of that unhappy Prince, and his confidence in 
men not fo good and wife as himfelf, had probably fill- 
ed him with miftaken notions of his own authority, and 
of the confequences that would attend conceflions of a- 
ny kind to a people, who were reprefented to him as 
aiming at too much power. 



120 LETTER XI. 

destruction of monarchy, could fatisfy thofe 
who had fuffered, and thought they had rea- 
fon to believe, they always Should Suffer un- 
der it. 

The confequences of thefe mutual dif- 
trufts are well known : But there is no other 
people mentioned in hiStory, that I recollect, 
who have been fo constantly watchful of 
their liberty, and fo fuccefsful in their Strug- 
gles for it, as the Engliih. This considera- 
tion leads me to the fecond reafon, why I 
" delire that the fpirit of apprehenlion may 
be always kept up among us in its utmoft 
vigilance." 

The first principles of government are to 
be looked for in human nature. Some of 
the beSt writers have aSTerted, and it feems 
with good reafon, that " government is 
founded on c opinion." 

CuStom undoubtedly has a mighty force 
in producing opinion, and reigns in nothing 

(c) " Opinion is of two kinds, viz. opinion of inte- 
reft, and opinion of right. By opinion of intereft, I 
chiefly underftand, the fenfe of public advantage which 
is reaped from government ; together with the perfuafi- 
on, that the particular government which is eftablished, 
is equally advantageous with any other, that could be 
eafily fettled." 

" Right is of two kinds, right to power, and right 
to property. What prevalence opinion of the firft kind 
has over mankind may eafily be understood, by obferving 
the attachment which all nations have to their ancient 
government, and even to thofe names which have had 
the fanction of antiquity. Antiquity always begets the 
opinion of right." " It is fufficiently understood, that 
the opinion of right to property, is of the greateft mo- 
ment in all matters of government." Hume's Effays. 



LETTER XI . 121 

more arbitrarily than in public affairs. It 
gradually reconciles us to objecls even of 
dread and deteftation ; and I cannot but 
think thefe lines of Mr. Pope, as applicable 
to vice in politics, as to vice in ethics. 
' Vice is a monfter of fo horrid mien, 
' As to be hated, needs but to be feen ; 
' Yet feen too oft, familiar with her face, 
' We firft endure, then pity, then embrace.' 

When an acl injurious to freedom has been 
once done, and the people bear it, the re- 
petition of it is moft likely to meet with 
fubmimon. For as the mifchief of the one 
was found to be tolerable, they will hope 
that of the fecond will prove fo too ; and 
they will not regard the infamy of the laft, 
becaufe they are ftained with that of the 
firft. 

Indeed, nations in general, are not apt 
to think until they feel; and therefore na- 
tions in general have loft their liberty : For 
as violations of the rights of the governed, 
are commonly not only fpecious, d but fmall 
at the beginning, they fpread over the mul- 
titude in fuch a manner, as to touch indivi- 
duals but nightly. Thus they are difre- 
garded. e The power or profit that arifes 

o. 

(«/) Omnia mala exampla ex bonis initiis orta funt. 

Salluft. Bell. Cat. S. 50. 

(e) The Republic is always attacked with greater vi- 
gour than it is defended, for the audacious and profligate, 
prompted by their natural enmity to it, are eafily im- 
pelled to acl upon the leaft nod of their leaders ; where- 



122 LETTER XI. 

from thefe violations, centering in few per- 
fons, is to them confiderable. For this rea- 
fon the governors having in view their par- 
ticular purpofes, fuccemvely preferve an 
uniformity of conduct for attaining them. 
They regularly increafe and multiply the 
firft injuries, till at length the inattentive 
people are compelled to perceive the heavi- 
nefs of their burdens. — They begin to com- 
plain and enquire — but too late. — They find 
their oppreiTors fo ftrengthened by fuccefs, 
and themfelves fo entangled in examples of 
exprefs authority on the part of their rulers, 
and of tacit recognition on their own part, 
that they are quite confounded : For millions 
entertain no other idea of the legality of 
power, than that it is founded on the exer- 
cife of power. They voluntarily fatten 
their chains, by adopting a puiillanimous 
opinion, " that there will be too much dan- 
ger in attempting a remedy," or another 
opinion no lefs fatal, " that the govern- 
ment has a right to treat them as it does." 

as the honeft, I know not why, are generally flow and 
unwilling to ftir ; and neglecting always the beginnings 
of things, are never roufed to exert themfelves, but by 
the laft necefllty ; fo that through irrefolution and de- 
lay, when they would be glad to compound at laft for 
their quiet, at the expence even of their honour, they 
commonly lofe them both." 

Cicero's Orat. for Sextius. 
Such were the fentiments of this great and excellent 
man whofe vaft abilities, and the calamities of the time 
in which he lived, enabled him, by mournful experience, 
to form a juft judgement on the conduit of the friends 
and enemies of liberty. 



LETTER XI . 123 

They then leek a wretched relief for their 
minds, by perfuading themfelves, that to 
yield their obedience is to difcharge their 
duty. The deplorable poverty of fpirit, 
that proftrates all the dignity beftowed by 
divine providence on our nature — of courfe 
fucceeds. 

From thefe reflections I conclude, that 
every free ftate fhould inceflantly watch, and 
inftantly take alarm on any condition being 
made to the power exercifed over them, in- 
numerable inftances might be produced to 
fhew, from what flight beginnings the moft 
extenlive confequences have flowed : but I 
(hall feleft two only from the hiftory of 
England. 

Henry the feventh was the firft monarch 
of that kingdom, who eftablished a flanding 
body of armed men. This was a band of 
50 archers, called yeomen of the guard : 
And this inftitution, notwithstanding the 
fmallnefs of the number, was, to prevent 
difcontent, f " difguifed under the pretence 
of majefly and grandeur." In 1684, the 
flanding forces were fo much augmented, 
that Rapin fays — " The King, in order to 
make his people fully fenfible of their new 
flavery, aflecled to mufter his troops, which 
amounted to 4000 well armed and disciplined 
men." I think our army, at this time, 
confifts of more than feventy regiments. 

(_/") Rapin's History of England. 



124 LETTER XI. 

The method of taxing by excife was firft 
introduced amidff the convulfions of civil 
wars. Extreme necemty was pretended, 
and its fhort continuance promifed. After 
the reftoration, an excife upon beer, ale and 
other liquors, was granted to the g King, 
one half in fee, the other for life, as an e- 
quivalent for the court of wards. Upon 
James the fecond's accemon, the parlia- 
ment h gave him the firfl excife, with an ad- 
ditional duty on wine, tobacco, and fome 
other things. Since the revolution it has 
been extended to fait, candles, leather, hides, 
hops, foap, paper, pafte-board, mill-boards, 
fcaleboards, vellum, parchment, ftarch, filks, 
calicoes, linens, fluffs, printed, ftained, &c. 
wire, wrought plate, coffee, tea, chocolate, 
&c. 

Thus a ffanding army and excife have, 
from the firfl flender origins, tho' always 
hated, always feared, always oppofed, at 
length fwelled up to their vaft prefent bulk. 

Thefe facls are furficient to fupport what 
I have faid. 'Tis true that all the mifchiefs 
apprehended by our anceftors from a ftand- 
ing army and excife, have not yet happen- 
ed : but it does not follow from thence, 
that they will not happen. The infide of a 
houfe may catch fire, and the mofr. valuable 
apartments be ruined, before the flames 



(g) 12 Car. II. Chap. 23, and 24. 
(b) James II. Chap. I. and 4. 



LETTER XI. 125 

burft out. The queftion in thefe cafes is 
not, what evil has actually attended parti- 
cular meafures — but what evil, in the nature 
of things, is likely to attend them. Cer- 
tain circumftances may for fome time delay 
effects, that were reafonably expected, and 
that mufl enfue. There was a long period, 
after the Romans had prorogued the com- 
mand to ' Q^. Publilius Philo, before that 
example deftroyed their liberty. All our 
kings, from the revolution to the prefent 
reign have been foreigners. Their minifters 
generally continued but a fhort time in au- 
thority ; k and they themfelves were mild 
and virtuous princes. 

A bold, ambitious Prince, polfelfed of 
great abilities, firmly fixed in the throne by 
defcent, ferved by minifters like himfelf, and 
rendered either venerable or terrible by the 
glory of his fucceifes, may execute what his 

(/) In the year of the city 428, " Duo fingularia hac 
ei viro primum contigere ; prorogatio imperii non ame in ullo 
fuSlo et aSio honore triumpbus." Liv. B. 8. Chap. 23. 26. 

" Had the reft of the Roman citizens imitated the 
example of L. Quintus, who refufed to have his conful- 
(hip continued to him, they had never admitted that 
cuftom of proroguing magiftrates, and then the prolon- 
gation of their commands, the army had never been 
introduced, which very thing was at length the ruin 
of that commonwealth." 

Machiavel's difcourfes, B. 3. Chap. 24. 

(/f) I don't know but it may be faid with a good deal 
of reafon, that a quick rotation of minifters is very de- 
firable in Great-Britain. A minifter there has a vaft 
ftore of materials to work with. Long adminiftrations 
are rather favourable to the reputation of a people a- 
broad, than to their liberty. 



126 LETTER XI. 

predeceflbrs did not dare to attempt. Henry 
IV. tottered in his feat during his whole 
reign. Henry V. drew the ftrength of the 
kingdom into France, to carry on his wars 
there, and left the Commons at home, pro- 
tefting, " that the people were not bound 
" to ferve out of the realm." 

It is true, that a ftrong fpirit of liberty 
fublifts at prefent in Great-Britain, but what 
reliance is to be placed in the temper of a 
people, when the prince is pofleffed of an un- 
conftitutional power, our own hiftory can fuf- 
ficiently inform us. When Charles II. had 
ftrengthened himfelf by the return of the 
garrifon of Tangier, " England (fays Rapin) 
faw on a fudden an amazing revolution ; faw 
herfelf stripped of all her rights and privi- 
leges, excepting fuch as the King Ihould 
vouchfafe to grant her ; and what is more 
aftonifhing, the Engliih themfelves delivered 
up thefe very rights and privileges to Char- 
les II. which they had fo paffionately, and, 
if I may fay it, furiously defended againft. the 
defigns of Charles I." This happened only 
thirty-fix years after this lafi: prince had been 
beheaded. 

Some perfons are of opinion, that liberty 
is not violated, but by fuch open adls of 
force ; but they feem to be greatly mifta- 
ken. I could mention a period within thefe 
forty years, when almoft as great a change 
of difpofition was produced by the fecret 
meafures of a long adminiftration, as by 



LETTER XI. 127 

Charles's violence. Liberty, perhaps, is ne- 
ver expofed to fo much danger, as when the 
people believe there is the leaft ; for it may 
be fubverted, and yet they not think fo. 

Public-difgufting acls are feldom pradtifed 
by the ambitious, at the beginning of their 
defigns. Such conducl filences and difcou- 
rages the weak, and the wicked, who would 
otherways have been their advocates or ac- 
complices. It is of great confequence, to 
allow thofe, who, upon any account, are in- 
clined to favour them, fomething fpecious to 
fay in their defence. The power may be 
fully eftablifhed, though it would not be fafe 
for them to do whatever they pleafe. For 
there are things, which, at fome times, even 
ilaves will not bear. Julius Ca?sar and Oli- 
ver Cromwell did not dare to alfume the 
title of King. The grand Seignior dares not 
lay a new tax. The King of France dares 
not be a protectant. Certain popular points 
may be left untouched, and yet freedom be 
extinguished. The commonality of Venice i- 
magine themfelves free, becaufe they are 
permitted to do, what they ought not. But 
I quit a fubject, that would lead me too far 
from my purpofe. 

By the late acl of parliament, taxes are to 
be levied upon us, for " defraying the charge 
of the adminiftration of juftice, thefupport of 
civil government — and the expences of de- 
fending his Majefty's dominions in America." 



128 LETTER XI. 

If any man doubts what ought to be the 
conduct of thefe colonies on this occafion, I 
would afk them thefe queftions. 

Has not the parliament exprefsly avowed 
their intention of railing money from us for 
certain purpofes? Is not this fcheme popu- 
lar in Great-Britain ? Will the taxes, impof- 
ed by the late act, anfwer thofe purpofes ? 
If it will, mult it not take an immenfe fum 
from us ? If it will not, is it to be expected, 
that the parliament will not fully execute 
their intention, when it is pleafing at home, 
and not oppofed here ? Muff not this be done 
by impoiing new taxes? Will not every ad- 
dition, thus made to our taxes, be an addition 
to the power of the Britifh legislature, by 
increafing the number of officers employ- 
ed in the collection ? Will not every additi- 
onal tax therefore render it more diffi- 
cult to abrogate any of them ? When a 
branch of revenue is once established, does 
it not appear to many people invidious and 
undutiful, to attempt to abolifh it ? If tax- 
es, Sufficient to accomplish the intention of 
the Parliament, are impofed by the Parlia- 
ment, what taxes will remain to be impofed 
by our alfemblies ? If no material taxes re- 
main to be impofed by them, what muft be- 
come of them, and the people they repre- 
fent? 

1 " If any perfon confiders, thefe things, 

(/) Demofthenes's 2d Philippic. 



LETTER XI. 129 

and yet not thinks our liberties are in dan- 
ger, I wonder at that perfon's fecurity." 

One other argument is to be added, 
which, by itfelf, I hope, will be fufficient 
to convince the morl incredulous man on this 
continent, that the late act of Parliament is 
only defigned to be a precedent, whereon 
the future vaffalage of thefe colonies may be 
eftablifhed. 

Every duty thereby laid on articles of 
Britifli manufacture, is laid on fome com- 
modity upon the exportation of which from 
Great-Britain, a drawback is payable. Thofe 
drawbacks in moft of the articles, are ex- 
actly double to the duties given by the late 
acl. The Parliament therefore might in half 
a dozen lines have raifed much more money 
only by flopping the drawbacks in the hands 
of the officers at home, on exportation to 
thefe colonies, than by this folemn impofi- 
tion of taxes upon us, to be collected here. 
Probably, the artful contrivers of this act 
formed it in this manner, in order to referve 
to themfelves, in cafe of any objections be- 
ing made to it, this fpecious pretence — 
" That the drawbacks are gifts to the co- 
" lonies; and that the acl: only lefTens thofe 
" gifts." But the truth is, that the draw- 
backs are intended for the encourage- 
ment and promotion of Britilh manufactures 
and commerce, and are allowed on exporta- 
tion to any foreign parts, as well as on ex- 
portation to thefe provinces. Belides, care 

R 



130 LETTER XI . 

has been taken to Aide into the ad: m fome ar- 
ticles on which there are no drawbacks. 
However, the whole duties laid by the late 
adt on all the articles therein fpecified, are 
fo frnall, that they will not amount to as 
much as the drawbacks which are allowed 
on part of them only. If, therefore, the 
fum to be obtained by the late acl had been 
the fole object in forming it, there would 
not have been any occafion for the " Com- 
" mons of Great-Britain to give and grant 
" to his Majefty, rates and duties for railing 
" a revenue in his Majefty's dominions in 
" America, for making a more certain and 
" adequate proviiion for defraying the 
" charge of the adminiftration of juftice, 
" the fupport of civil government, and the 
" expences of defending the faid domini- 

" ons " Nor would there have been any 

occafion for an n expenfive board of commif- 

(m) Though duties by the late act are laid on fome ar- 
ticles, on which no drawbacks are allowed, yet the du- 
ties impofed by the adt, are fo Imall, in comparifon 
with the drawbacks that are allowed, that all the duties 
together will not amount to fo much as the drawbacks. 

(n) The expence of this board, I am informed, is be- 
tween four and five thoufand pounds fterling a year. 
The eftablishment of officers, for collecting the revenue 
of America, amounted before to feven thoufand fix hun- 
dred pounds per annum : and yet, fays the author of 
" The regulation of the colonies," the whole remittance 
from all the taxes in the colonies, at an average of thir- 
ty years, has not amounted to one thoufand nine hun- 
dred pounds a year, and in that time, feven or eight 
hundred pounds per annum only, have been remitted 
from North-America. 



LETTER XI . 131 

fioners, and all the other new charges to 
which we are made liable. 

Upon the whole, for my part, I regard 
the late a6t as an experiment made of our 
difpofition. It is a bird fent over the wa- 
ters, to difcover, whether the waves, that 
lately agitated this part of the world with 
fuch violence, are yet fublided. If this ad- 
venturer gets footing here, we fhall quickly 
be convinced, that it is not a phenix ; for 
we fhall foon fee it followed by others of the 
fame kind. We fhall find it rather to be of 
the ° breed defcribed by the poet — 

" Infelix vates." 
A direful foreteller of future calamities. 

A FARMER. 



The fmallnefs of the revenue arifing from the duties 
in America, demonftrated that they were intended only 
as regulations of trade ; and can any perfon be fo blind 
to truth, fo dull of apprehenfion in a matter of un- 
fpeakable importance to his country, as to imagine, that 
the board of commiffioners lately eftablifhed at fuch a 
charge, is inftituted to affift in collecting one thoufand 
nine hundred pounds a year, or the trifling duties im- 
pofed by the late a£t ? Surely every man on this conti- 
nent mull perceive, that they are eftablifhed for the 
care of a new fyftem of revenue, which is but now 
begun. 

(0) " Dira calano" Virgil, ./Eneid 2. 



LETTER XII. 



Beloved Countrymen, 

SOME ftates have loft their liberty by 
particular accidents ; but this calamity 
is generally owing to the decay of virtue. 
A people is travelling faft to deftruclion, 
when individuals confider their interefts as 
diftincl: from thofe of the public. Such no- 
tions are fatal to their country, and to them- 
felves. Yet how many are there (o weak 
and fordid as to think they perform all the 
offices of life, if they earneftly endeavour 
to increafe their own wealth, power, and 
credit, without the leaft regard for the foci- 
ety, under the protection of which they live; 
who, if they can make an immediate pro- 
fit to themfelves, by lending their alfiftance 
to thofe, whofe projects plainly tend to the 
injury of their country, rejoice in their dex- 
terity, and believe themfelves intitled to 
the character of able politicians. Miferable 
men ! of whom it is hard to fay, whether 
they ought to be molt the objecls of pity or 
contempt, but whofe opinions are certainly 
as deteftable as their practices are deftrucf ive. 
Though I always reflect with a high plea- 
fure on the integrity and underftanding of 



i 3 4 LETTER XII. 

my countrymen, which, joined with a pure 
and humble devotion to the great and gra- 
cious author of every bleffing they enjoy, 
will, I hope, enfure to them, and their poi- 
terity, all temporal and eternal happinefs ; 
yet when I coniider, that in every age and 
country there have been bad men, my heart, 
at this threatening period, is fo full of ap- 
prehenfion, as not to permit me to believe, 
but that there may be fome on this conti- 
nent, againft whom you ought to be upon 
your guard. Men, who either a hold or ex- 

(a) It is not intended by thefe words to throw any re- 
flection upon gentlemen, becaufe they are poflefTed of 
offices ; for many of them are certainly men of vir- 
tue, and lovers of their country. But fuppofed obliga- 
tions of gratitude and honour may induce them to be 
filent. Whether thefe obligations ought to be regarded 
or not, is not fo much to be confidered by others, in the 
judgment they form of thefe gentlemen, as whether 
they think they ought to be regarded. Perhaps, there- 
fore we {hall a£t in the propereft manner towards them, 
if we neither reproach nor imitate them. The perfons 
meant in this letter, are the bafe-fpirited wretches, who 
may endeavor to diftinguish themfelves, by their fordid 
zeal, in defending and promoting meafures, which they 
know, beyond all queftion, to be deftrudtive to the juft 
rights and true interefts of their country. It is fcarce- 
ly poffible, to fpeak of thefe men with any degree of 
patience. It is fcarcely poffible to fpeak of them with 
any degree of propriety. For no words can truly de- 
fcribe their guilt, and meannefs. But every honeft man, 
on their being mentioned, will feel what cannot be ex- 
preffed. If their wickednefs did not blind them, they 
might perceive, along the coaft of thefe colonies, many 
fkeletons of wretched ambition ; who after diftinguifh- 
ing themfelves, in fupport of the Stamp-acl, by a cou- 
ragious contempt of their country, and of juftice, 
have been left to linger out their miferable exiftence, 



LETTER XII. 135 

pec~l to hold certain advantages by fetting 
examples of fervility to their countrymen — ' 
Men who trained to the employment, or 
felf-taught by a natural verfatility of geni- 
us, ferve as decoys for drawing the innocent 
and unwary into fnares. It is not to be 

without a government, colledtorfhip, fecretaryfhip, or 
any other commiflion to confole them, as well as it could 
for lofs of virtue and reputation — while numberlefs of- 
fices have been beftowed in thefe colonies, on people 
from Great- Britain, and new ones are continually in- 
vented to be thus beftowed. As a few great prizes are 
put into a lottery to tempt multitudes to lofe, fo here 
and there an American has been raifed to a good poft — 
" Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vajio." 
Mr. Grenville, indeed, in order to recommend the 
Stamp-a£t, had the unequalled generosity, to pour 
down a golden lhower of offices upon Americans ; and 
yet thefe ungrateful colonies did not thank Mr. Gren- 
ville for (hewing his kindnefs to their countrymen, nor 
them for accepting it. How muft that great ftatefman 
have been furprifed to find, that the unpolifhed colonifts 
could not be reconciled to infamy, by treachery ? Such 
a bountiful difpofition towards us never appeared in a- 
ny minifter before him, and probably never will appear 
again. For it is evident that fuch a fyftem of policy is 
to be eftablifhed on this continent, as, in a ftiort time, is 
to render it utterly unneceflary to ufe the leaft art in 
order to conciliate our approbation of any meafures. 
Some of our countrymen may be employed to fix chains 
upon us ; but they will never be permitted to hold them 
afterwards. So that the utmoft that any of them can 
expeft, is only a temporary provifion, that may expire 
in their own time ; but which, they may be allured, 
will preclude their children from having any confidera- 
tion paid to them. The natives of America, will fink 
into total negledt and contempt, the moment that their 
country lofes the conftitutional powers {he now poflef- 
fes. Moft fincerely do I wifh and pray, that every one 
of us may be convinced of this great truth, that induf- 
try and integrity are the " paths of pleafantnefs, which 
lead to happinefs." 



136 LETTER XII. 

doubted but that fuch men will diligently 
beftir themfelves, on this and every like oc- 
calion, to fpread the infection of their mean- 
nefs as far as they can. On the plans they 
have adopted, this is their courfe. This is 
the method to recommend themfelves to 
their patrons. 

They adf coniiftently, in a bad caufe. 

They run well in a mean race. 

From them we mail learn, how pleafant 
and profitable a thing it is, to be, for our 
fubmiiTive behaviour, well fpoken of in St. 
James's, or St. Stephen's ; at Guildhall, or 
the Royal Exchange. Specious fallacies 
will be dreft up with all the arts of delu- 
fion, to perfuade one colony to diftinguifh 
herfelf from another, by unbecoming conde- 
fcenfions, which will ferve the ambitious 
purpofe of great men at home, and there- 
fore will bethought by them, to entitle their 
affiflants in obtaining them, to considerable 
rewards. 

Our fears will be excited ; our hopes will 
be awakened. It will be infinuated to us 
with a plaufible affectation of wifdom and 
concern, how prudent it is to pleafe the 
powerful — how dangerous to provoke them 
— and then comes in the perpetual incanta- 
tion, that freezes up every generous purpofe 
of the foul, in cold — inactive — expectation 
" that if there is any requefl to be made, 
" compliance will obtain a favourable atten- 
" tion." 



LETTER XII. 137 

Our vigilance and our union are fuccefs 
and fafety. Our negligence and our divi- 
lion are diftrefs and death. They are worfe 
— they are fhame and llavery. 

Let us equally fhun the benumbing ftill- 
nefs of overweening floth, and the feverilh 
activity of that ill-informed zeal, which bu- 
ries itfelf in maintaining little, mean, and 
narrow opinions. Let us, with a truly 
wife generoiity and charity, banirti and dil- 
courage all illiberal diftinctions, which may 
arife from differences in iituation, forms of 
government, or modes of religion. Let 
us confider ourfelves as men — Freemen — 
Chriftian men — feparated from the reft of 
the world, and firmly bound together by 
the fame rights, interefts, and dangers. 
Let thefe keep our attention inflexibly fixed 
on the great objects, which we mull con- 
tinually regard, in order to preferve thofe 
rights, to promote thofe interefts, and to 
avert thofe dangers. 

Let thefe truths be indelibly impreffed on 
our minds — that we cannot be happy with- 
out being free — that we cannot be free with- 
out being fecure in our property — that we 
cannot be fecure in our property, if, with- 
out our confent, others may, as by right, 
take it away — that taxes impofed on us by 
parliament, do thus take it away — that du- 
ties laid for the fole purpofes of railing mo- 
ney, are taxes — that attempts to lay fuch 

S 



138 LETTER XII. 

duties fhould be inftantly and firmly oppof- 
ed — that this oppoiition can never be effec- 
tual, unlefs it is the united effort of thefe 
provinces — that, therefore, benevolence of 
temper toward each other, and unanimity 
of counfels are effential to the welfare of 
the whole — and laftly, that, for this reafon, 
every man amongft us, who, in any manner, 
would encourage either diffention, diffidence, 
or indifference between thefe colonies, is an 
enemy to himfelf and to his country. 

The belief of thefe truths, I verily think, 
my countrymen, is indifpenfably neceffary 
to your happinefs. I befeech you, there- 
fore, b " Teach them diligently unto your 
" children, and talk, of them when you fit 
" in your houfes, and when you walk by 
" the way, and when you lie down, and 
" when you rife up." 

What have thefe colonies to afk, while 
they continue free? Or what have they to 
dread, but infidious attempts to fubvert 
their freedom ? Their profperity does not 
depend on minifterial favours doled out to 
particular provinces. They form one poli- 
tical body, of which each colony is a mem- 
ber. Their happinefs is founded on their 
conftitution ; and is to be promoted by 
preferving that conftitution in unabated vi- 
gour throughout every part. A fpot, a 
fpeck of decay, however fmall the limb on 

(£) Deut. vi. 7. 



LETTER XII. 139 

which it appears, and however remote it 
may feem from the vitals, mould be alarm- 
ing. We have all the rights requilite for 
our profperity. The legal authority of 
Great-Britain may indeed lay hard reftricli- 
ons upon us ; but, like the fpear of Tele- 
phus, it will cure as well as wound. Her 
unkindnefs will inftruct and compel us, af- 
ter fome time, to difcover, in our induftry 
and frugality, furpriling remedies — if our 
rights continue inviolated. For as long as 
the produces of our labours and the rewards 
of our care, can properly be called our own, 
fo long will it be worth our while to be in- 
duftrious and frugal. But if when we plow — 
fow — reap — gather — and threih, we find, 
that we plow — fow — reap — gather — and 
threih for others, whofe pleafure is to be the 
fole limitation, how much they fhall take, 
and how much they mall leave, why mould 
we repeat the unprofitable toil ? Horfes and 
oxen are content with that portion of the 
fruits of their work, which their owners af- 
fign to them, in order to keep them ftrong 
enough to raife fuccefiive crops ; but even 
thefe hearts will not fubmit to draw for their 
mafters, until they are fubdued with whips 
and goads. Let us take care of our rights, 
and we therein take care of our property. 
" Slavery is ever preceded by fleep." c In- 
dividuals may be dependant on minifters, if 



(c) Montefquieu's Spirit of Laws, B. 14. C. 13. 
S 2 



i 4 o LETTER XII. 

they pleafe. States mould fcorn it And, 

if you are not wanting to yourfelves, you 
will have a proper regard paid you by thofe, 
to whom if you are not refpeclable, you will 
infallibly be contemptible. But if we have 
already forgot the reafons that urged us, 
with unexampled unanimity, to exert our- 
felves two years ago ; if our zeal for the pub- 
lic good is worn out before the homefpun 
cloaths which it caufed us to have made — 
if our refolutions are fo faint, as by our 
prefent conduct to condemn our own late 

fuccefsful example if we are not affected 

by any reverence for the memory of our an- 
ceftors, who tranfmitted to us that freedom 

in which they had been bleft if we are 

not animated by any regard for posterity, 
to whom, by the moll: facred obligations, 
we are bound to deliver down the inva- 
luable inheritance — Then, indeed, any mi- 
nifter — or any tool of a minifter — or any 
creature of a tool of a minifter — or any 
lower d instrument of adminilf ration, if low- 

(d) " Inftrumenta regni." Tacitus An. b. 12. f. 66. 

If any perfon fhall imagine that he difcovers in thefe 
letters the leaft difaffeclion towards our moft excellent 
Sovereign, and the parliament of Great-Britain ; or the 
leaft diflike to the dependance of thefe colonies on that 
kingdom, I beg that fuch perfon will not form any judg- 
ment on particular expreflions, but will confider the te- 
nour of all the letters taken together. In that cafe, I 
flatter myfelf that every unprejudiced reader will be 
convinced, that the true interefts of Great-Britain are as 
dear to me as they ought to be to every good fubje£t. 

If I am an Enthufiaft in anything, it is in my zeal for 
the perpetual dependance of thefe colonies on their mo- 



LETTER XII. 141 

er there may be, is a perfonage, whom it 
may be dangerous to offend. 

I ihall be extremely forry if any man mif- 
takes my meaning in any thing I have faid. 
Officers employed by the crown, are, while 
according to the laws they condudl them- 

ther-country. — A dependance founded on mutual bene- 
fits, the continuance of which can be fecured only by 
mutual affections. Therefore it is, that with extreme 
apprehenfion I view the fmalleft feeds of difcontent, 
which are unwarily fcattered abroad. Fifty or fixty 
years will make aftonifhing alterations in thefe colonies ; 
and this confideration fhould render it the bufinefs of 
Great Britain more and more to cultivate our good dif- 
pofitions towards her : but the misfortune is, that thofe 
great men, who are wreftling for power at home, think 
themfelves very flightly interefted in the profperity of 
their country fifty or fixty years hence ; but are deeply 
concerned in blowing up a popular clamour for fuppofed 
immediate advantages. 

For my part, I regard Great-Britain as a bulwark happi- 
ly fixed between thefe colonies and the powerful nations 
of Europe. That kingdom is our advanced poft or fortifica- 
tion, which remaining fafe, we under its protection enjoy- 
ing peace, may diffufe the bleflings of religion, fcience, 
and liberty, thro' remote wildernefses. It is, therefore, in- 
conteftibly our duty and our intereff , to fupport the ftrength 
of Great Britain. When, confiding in that ftrength, fhe 
begins to forget from whence it arofe, it will be an eafy 
thing to fhew the fource. She may readily be reminded 
of the loud alarm fpread among her merchants and tradef- 
men, by the univerfal affbciation of thefe colonies, at the 
time of the Stamp-aft, not to import any of her manufac- 
tures. In the year 1 7 1 8, the Ruffians and Swedes, en- 
tered into an agreement, not to fuffer Great-Britain to ex- 
port any naval ftores from their dominions, but in Ruffian 
or Swedifh fhips, and at their own prices. Great-Britain 
was diftresfed. Pitch and tar rofe to three pounds a barrel. 
At length fhe thought of getting thefe articles from the 
colonies ; and the attempt fucceeding, they fell down to 
fifteen {hillings. In the year i756,Great Britain wasthreat- 



142 LETTER XII. 

felves, entitled to legal obedience and fincere 
refpect. Thefe it is a duty to render them, 
and thefe no good or prudent perfon will 
withhold. But when thefe officers, thro' 
rafhnefs or defign, endeavour to enlarge 
their authority beyond its due limits, and ex- 
ped: improper conceffions to be made to 
them, from regard for the employments they 
bear, their attempts mould be conlidered as 
equal injuries to the crown and people, and 
mould be courageouily and constantly op- 
pofed. To fuffer our ideas to be confound- 
ed by names, on fuch occafions, would cer- 
tainly be an inexcufable weaknefs, and pro- 
bably, an irremediable error. 

We have reafon to believe, that feveral 
of his Majefty's prefent minifters are good 
men, and friends to our country ; and it 
feems not unlikely, that by a particular con- 
currence of events, we have been treated 
a little more feverely than they wiihed we 

ened with an invafion. An eafterly wind blowing for fix 
weeks, (he could not man her fleet, and the whole na- 
tion was thrown into the utmoft consternation. The 
wind changed. The American mips arrived. The 
fleet failed in ten or fifteen days. There are fome other 
reflections on this fubjeft worthy of the moft deliberate 
attention of the Britifh parliament ; but they are of fuch 
a nature, I do not chufe to mention them publicly. I 
thought I difcharged my duty to my country, taking 
the liberty, in the year I 765, while the Stamp-Acl: was in 
fufpense, of writing my fentiments to a man of the 
greateft influence at home, who afterwards diftinguifhed 
himfelf by efpoufing our caufe, in the debates concerning 
the repeal of that adt. 



LETTER XII. 143 

fhould be. They might not think it pru- 
dent to ftem a torrent. But what is the 
difference to us, whether arbitrary acts 
take their rife from minifters, or are per- 
mitted by them ? Ought any point to be 
allowed to a good e minifter, that fhould 
be denied to a bad one ? The mortality of 
minifters is a very frail mortality. A * * * 
may fucceed a Shelburne — a * * * may fuc- 
ceed a Conway. 

We find a new kind of minifter lately fpo- 

ken of at home " The minifter of the 

" houfe of Commons." The term feems 
to have particular propriety when referred 
to thefe colonies, with a different meaning 
annexed to it, from that in which it is ta- 
ken there. By the word " minifter " we 
may underftand not only a fervant of the 
crown, but a man of influence among the 
Commons, who regard themfelves as having 
a fhare of the fovereignty over us. The mi- 
nifter of the houfe may, in a point refpecl:- 
ing the colonies, be fo ftrong, that the mini- 
fter of the crown in the houfe, if he is a dif- 
tindt perfon, may not chufe, even where his 
fentiments are favourable to us, to come to 
a pitched battle upon our account. For tho' 
I have the higheft opinion of the deference 
of the houfe for the King's minifter ; yet he 

(*■) " Ubi imperium ad ignaros aut minus bonos per- 
venit ; novum illud exemplum, ad dignis et idoneis, ad 
indignos et non idoneos transfertur." 

Sail. Bed. Cat. f. 50. 



i 4 4 LETTER XII. 

may be fo good natured as not to put it to the 
teft, except it be for the mere and immedi- 
ate profit of his mafter or himfelf. 

But whatever kind of minifter he is, that 
attempts to innovate a fingle iota in the pri- 
vileges of thefe colonies, him I hope you will 
undauntedly oppofe, and that you will never 
fuffer yourfelves to be either cheated or 
frightened into any unworthy obfequioufnefs. 
On fuch emergencies you may furely with- 
out prefumption believe that ALMIGHTY 
GOD himfelf will look down upon your 
righteous conteft with gracious approbation. 
You will be a " Band of brother's" cement- 
ed by the deareft ties — and ftrengthened with 
inconceivable fupplies of force and conftancy, 
by that fympathetic ardour which animates 
good men, confederated in a good caufe. 
Your honour and welfare will be, as they 
now are, mod intimately concerned ; and 
befides you are afiigned by Divine Provi- 
dence, in the appointed order of things, the 
proteclors of unborn ages, whofe fate de- 
pends upon your virtue. Whether they mall 
arife the noble and indifputable heirs of the 
richeft patrimonies, or the daftardly and he- 
reditary drudges of imperious tafk-mafters, 
you mull determine. 

Todifcharge this double duty to yourfelves 
and to your pofterity ; you have nothing to 
do, but to call forth into ufe the good fenfe 
and fpirit, of which you are porTeffed. You 
have nothing to do, but to condudt your 



LETTER XII. 145 

affairs peaceably prudently firm- 
ly -jointly. By thefe means you will 

fupport the character of freemen, without 
loling that of faithful fubjecls — a good cha- 
racter in any government — one of the beft 
under a Britifh government. You will prove 
that Americans have that true magnanimity 
of foul, that can refent injuries without falling 
into rage ; and that tho' your devotion to 
Great-Britain is the mofl: affectionate, yet 
you can make proper diftinctions, and know 
what you owe to yourfelves as well as to her 
you will, at the fame time that you ad- 
vance your interefts, advance your reputati- 
on — you will convince the world of the juf- 
tice of your demands, and the purity of your 
intentions — while all mankind muff with un- 
ceaiing applaufes confefs, that you indeed 
deferve liberty, who fo well underftand it, 
fo paflionately love it, fo temperately enjoy 
it, and fo wifely, bravely, and virtuoufly, af- 
fert, maintain, and defend it. 

" Certe ego libertatem quce mihi a parente 
" meo tradita ejl, expert ar, verum id fruf- 
" tra, an ob rem faciam, in lejira tnanu 
" Jitum eji, quirites." 

" For my part, I am refolved ftrenuoufly 
to contend for the liberty delivered down to 
me from my ancestors ; but whether I mall 
do this effedually or not, depends on you, 
my countrymen." 

T 



146 LETTER XII. 

How little foever one is able to write, yet, 
when the liberties of one's country are threat- 
ened, it is ftill more difficult to be filent. 

A FARMER. 



Is there not the greatejl reafon to hope, if 
the univerfal fenfe of the colofiies is immedi- 
ately exprejl, by refohes of the ajfemblies, in 
Jupport of their rights; by injlruclions to their 
agents on the fubjefl ; and by petitions to the 
crown and parliament for redrefs ; that thofe 
meafures will have the fame fuccefs now that 
they had in the time of the Stamp-act. 



To the ingenious Author of 
certain patriotic Letters, fub- 
fcribed A FARMER. 

Much Respected Sir, 

WHEN the rights and liberties of the 
numerous and loyal inhabitants of this 
extenfive continent are in imminent danger, 
— when the inveterate enemies of thefe colo- 
nies are not more amduous to forge fetters 
for them, than diligent to delude the people, 
and zealous to perfuade them to an indolent 
acquielcence: At this alarming period, when 
to reluct is deemed a revolt, and to oppofe 
fuch meafures as are injudicious and destruc- 
tive, is conftrued as a formal attempt to Sub- 
vert order and government ; when to reafon 
is to rebel ; and a ready fubmiffion to the 
rod of power, is follicited by the tenders of 
place and patronage, or urged by the me- 
nace of danger and difgrace : 'Tis to YOU, 
worthy Sir, that America is obliged, for 
a moft feafonable, fenfible, loyal, and vigo- 
rous vindication of her invaded rights and 
liberties: 'Tis to YOU, the diftinguifhed ho- 
nour is due ; that when many of the friends 
of liberty were ready to fear its utter fubver- 
fion : Armed with truth, fupported by the 
immutable laws of nature, the common in- 
heritance of man, and leaning on the pillars 
of the British conftitution; you feafonably 
brought your aid, oppofed impending ruin, 
awakened the moft indolent and inactive, to 
a fenfe of danger, re-animated the hopes of 
thofe, who had before exerted themfelves 



in the caufe of freedom, and inftructed Ame- 
rica in the bell: means to obtain redrefs. 

Nor is this weltern world alone indebted 
to your wifdom, fortitude, and patrio- 
tifm : Great-Britain alfo may be con- 
firmed by you, that to be truly great 
and fuccefsful, (he muft be juft : That to 
opprefs America, is to violate her own 
honours, defeat her brighter!: profpects, and 
contract: her fpreading empire. 

To fuch eminent worth and virtue, the 
inhabitants of the town of Boston, the 
capital of the province of the Massachu- 
setts-Bay, in full town meeting aflembled, 
exprefs their earliell gratitude. Actuated 
themfelves by the fame generous principles, 
which appear with fo much luftre in your 
ufeful labours, they will not fail warmly to 
recommend, and induftrioufly to promote 
that union among the feveral colonies, which 
is fo indifpenfably necelfary for the fecurity 
of the whole. 

Tho' fuch fuperior merit mull aiTuredly, 
in the clofeft recefs, enjoy the divine fatif- 
faclion of having ferved, and pollibly faved 
this people ; tho' veiled from our view, 
you modeftly fhun the deferved applaufe of 
millions ; permit us to intrude upon your 
retirement, and falute The FARMER, as 
the Friend of Americans, and the 
common benefactor of mankind. 

Bo/ion, March 22, 1768. 
The above letter was read, and unanimously accepted 
by the town, and ordered to be publifhed in the feveral 
news-papers. Atteji. William Cooper, Town-Clerk. 



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